How to Build the Strongest Melee Damage Dealers in D&D 5e

MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarte... Pump up those muscles: we're going to discuss how to build and play the strongest (aka strength-based) damage dealers in Dungeons and Dragons 5e: Barbarians, Fighters, and Paladins! We'll compare how all classes play using builds with Great Weapon Master and Polearm Master! Find links to the example character sheets and damage calculation spreadsheets below!
This episode is sponsored by Dwarven Forge's new Hellscape Kickstarter! Check it out at bit.ly/2RidS8U
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The numbers for this episode were based on Redditor u/Kryxx's fantastic and exhaustive "DRP of Classes" spreadsheet. Check it out here: tinyurl.com/y6...
Example Characters:
Zealot Barbarian -- ddb.ac/charact...
Battlemaster Fighter -- ddb.ac/charact...
Vengeance Paladin -- ddb.ac/charact...
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[@VonSnootingham]

"It'd be fun to have a party with a barbarian, a fighter, and a paladin all together". All three of these guys completely buffed out; I'm picturing a Jojo-style group glamor shot.

[@LupineShadowOmega]

Better if they have a Glamour Bard in the party. XD

[@gary6631]

that's basically our party + 2 healers

[@batsdarkprime9462]

The only thing my group is missing is a barbarian honestly, we have two fighters and two paladins... things dont live

[@jcklsldr]

My current party has a pally and barb, with a forge cleric and me a Battlesmith Arty. Those two laying waste in melee, my pet keeping them from taking too much damage, the cleric going boss hog with guiding bolt, and me just sniping from a distance with sharpshooter XD

[@punkblooky9955]

WHAMUU! ASIDISI! KARS! AWAKEN MY MASTERS!

[@necogreendragon]

A fighter, a paladin and a barbarian walked into the dungeon. The monsters ran out.

[@kawikacortes347]

necogreendragon Then they proceed to fall down an endless hole because their passive perception was too low to see the minor image of the floor obscuring the hole. Monsters win without a single blow. gg 👍🏻🎉🎉

[@jean-christophearsenault2104]

@@kawikacortes347 But the barbarian survives the *endless* fall !

[@devin5201]

Holy dang okay so lets see, Champion Fighter, Wolf Totem Barbarian and a Vengeance Paladin just constantly with the Wolf's advantage, dozens of hit and damage dice rolling, the Champion critting every other round, the Paladin swinging with those smites, just total dominance over the battlefield.

[@agsilverradio2225]

@@kawikacortes347 Wizard trys to find a way out of the bottomless hole. If the hole has walls, then he casts spider-climb on the party.

[@deanweir9023]

Aacrokra Flys out if the hole.

[@Dragons4Dummies]

Fighter: What's the plan, guys? Barbarian: hit it till it dies! Paladin: alright, let me get more dice.

[@nroke1684]

So, the dm gave my vengeance paladin a flame tongue sword which deals an extra 2d6 fire damage. So I deal 1d8 slashing, 2d6 fire, and if I stick in a smite, 2d8 radiant. I can also hunter’s mark to deal another d6 damage, then I can give myself advantage with vow of enmity which makes me way more likely to crit. Also I have an AC of 19(chain mail, shield, defensive fighting style). Did I mention I’m level 4?

[@imofage3947]

If brute force isn't solving it, you're obviously not using enough.

[@gattzflappa6306]

@@nroke1684 A flame tongue at lvl 4. Who's your DM? Santa Claus?

[@nroke1684]

Gattz Flappa yes

[@harperthegoblin]

@@gattzflappa6306 I once got one at level 1, just had to trade with other player. That was the first time I ever played

[@jeffreyzilla]

Barbarian: *Rolls a measly 1d4 for damage.* DM: Alright, how much damage did you do? Barbarian: 19. DM: ...Sounds about right.

[@pedrofdez-ordonez]

Wait, did he roll a 1...?

[@KCSutherland]

Yeah that was an unfortunate roll

[@bigdawg782]

2(roll)+10(GWM)+5(str)+2(rage)

[@Olav_Hansen]

@@bigdawg782 at level 8 he only had 17 strength so [3]+10+4+2

[@bigdawg782]

Olav Hansen where did you get the idea he was level 8 or that he didn’t use the 4d6 and drop lowest dice option?

[@StevoM08]

Paladin's dumping everything into single big hits are best friends with the Grave Cleric who can make the target vulnerable to all the attacks damage. Path to the Grave indeed

[@nickonline5462]

Why not just do it all with one character? I made a bard multiclass build that has the ability to pump out 538 average single target melee damage in one single absurd swing of the sword.

[@Ento2012]

@@nickonline5462 How ? Lvl 20?

[@terak4786]

You know, I had forgotten that feature. I made a Kobold Mastermind, and dipped over to Grave domain cleric for keeping our drop-happy party alive. Realizing after you pointing that out, said Kobold can use Path to the Grave to make the target vulnerable AND the ranged help action from the Mastermind to give the intended killer advantage on the target, too.

[@jackscott1218]

Pally-Rogue or Rogue-Hexblade Warlock with Eldrich smite getting a crit + Grave cleric vulnerability. BONKERS damage. At 20th level we're talking upwards of 150 damage in one swing.

[@jekubfimbulwing5370]

Barbarian : LEEEEEEROOOOOOOY JEEEEEENKIIINSSS!!!!!!!! Fighter : Did he just run in there? Paladin : Yep, he did. Lets follow.

[@hadeskingoftheunderworld7010]

TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!!!!!!!!!!

[@princekermit0]

Leroy was a pally

[@rlwrgh]

@@princekermit0 there is no barbarian in wow.

[@princekermit0]

@@rlwrgh and?

[@YourBoyNobody530]

@@princekermit0 I agree the point still stands

[@benjaminholcomb9478]

3:45 Like That minotaur in Narnia. *Double hits chest* "The real hero"

[@RightJackAtYa]

THE MVP!

[@steelorivera1062]

Great job I really like how you gave some example build to lvl 8 instead of 20 like other people

[@thebravegallade731]

Lv 20 should be a thought, but a lv 10 ish build should be the norm honestly. A lot of campaigns start at 3 or 5 and end at around 12....

[@Aedi]

completely. LVL 20 builds are fun, but most of the time, you'll be much lower level. So brew to something closer to level 10 to get the most out of it, enough levels to have serious decisions, but low enough you'll get a lot of time with them

[@maid_of_heart3261]

@@Aedi I recently made a lvl 8 build for a scourge aasimar zealot barbarian. Polearm Master + Great Weapon Master. With both Radiant Consumption and Rage on, she is a walking blender. If all 3 attacks hit, she's dealing about 75-80 damage per round

[@rcschmidt668]

By the time you reach the mid levels, we should know more about what the character needs to do. Either good parts great or shore up a weak point.

[@allenfilmore5725]

"Don't let the numbers get in the way of playing a character that's you are going to love," except Ranger.

[@azureberryjam5563]

I dunno. I've found even Vanilla ranger can output big numbers. I've got a level 7 Ranger in a PoTA and he's basically the party's main damage dealer.

[@toonboy222]

My Ranger constantly casts Hunters Mark and puts out high 20s to mid 30s damage. Love that spell!

[@allenfilmore5725]

I am glad you guys are making positive comments about rangers. I keep hearing all the negativity they get and even though they are my favorite class I havenot played one in 5e because of the stigma.

[@brcoutme]

Nah man Ranger can definitely do some serious damage out put. I mean if you want to go well ranged with them, you can take sharp shooter which like the great weapon master feat gives you the +10 damage (at cost of -5 to hit). For extra hits using your bonus action you can go for crossbow expert. Of course, if you want your ranger to be a two weapon melee guy, as they said, don't let the numbers get you too distracted. For an example of how strong the ranged Ranger can be you can watch that Dungeons of Drackenhiem series they mentioned they have a Gloom stalker ranger that takes advantage of the feats I mentioned. The hunter ranger can also get some nice extra damage going. The main reason they didn't mention Rangers in the video is because they were focused on strength based, generally two handed weapon characters, which the Ranger is slightly less suited for. Of course with the feats they mentioned, I'm sure you could still make it work if that is what you want.

[@christianfletcher2021]

Joseph Elsinger I play a shadar kai revises ranger, horizon walker archetype. I hands down at level 5 am the party’s main dps, I’ve been rolling health and have gotten lucky and use a rapier and shield with 20 dex 14 con and 14 wis. 10 for the rest (we did point buy and got a feat at level 1, I took weapon master I think it was for the +1 dex to start with 18) after the first round of casting hunters mark, I use bonus actions for planar warrior, I do have a +3 rapier the party found I get a +10 to hit, and I deal 1d8 plus 10(12 against humanoids) +1d8+1d6 force damage. For my first attack every round after the first on my marked target. With 20ac and 54 health he’s beastly.

[@Rod2da]

I looked at that Dwarven Forge kickstarter, they have $682,554 out of a goal of $100,000. Damn.

[@tyleremery7088]

$722,683 a day later, and only 1,010 backers. Meaning the average pledge is about $715.

[@boopdoop4524]

1,000,000 now

[@Hazel-xl8in]

Rod L that’s probably why they’re doing all these sponsorships

[@audiblerangerdms6616]

DID I HEAR A ROCK AND STONE?

[@JoeBuk724]

One of my players is a Dragonborn barbarian. His name is Dylan, because he "spits hot fire"

[@horseliver338]

bruh lol

[@capealio]

Die-lon dylon

[@Ubercut]

All of the victims of his hot fire are reduced to a pile of ashy larry.

[@stpariah9609]

Want your DM to give you a quest, only for it to end up being a long winded cake walk.

[@JoeBuk724]

@@Ubercut haha! Love it!

[@mattrondeau2]

Barbarian: Rollo from Vikings, "attack attack attack. That is all he ever says" Fighter: John Wick, "he killed three men, with a f***ing pencil" Paladin: Jules Winnfield, "This was divine intervention. Do you know what divine intervention is?"

[@akajezus]

How is no one commenting on how fire this comment is

[@riddick1128]

Paladin: Law Abiding Citizen, “I’m gonna bring the entire diseased, corrupt temple down on your head. It’s gonna be biblical.”

[@mainepants]

John Wick has Tavern Brawler. That's enough commendation for the feat. I'll take it!

[@KC-zc8ic]

Paladin: Samuel L. Jackson pulp fiction "Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

[@jessie-buns839]

Warlock: Do you know what Nemesis means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an 'orrible c***. Me.

[@nicholasschoonbeck6866]

Grog in Critical Role is a great example of a strong man character, both the benefits of being a tank & the negatives of being vulnerable to many mind attacks -

[@jhinpotion9230]

Although, Grog being a Berserker actually made him less vulnerable to mental attacks. Mindless Rage is a great feature.

[@jaeg.3806]

@@jhinpotion9230 When he remembered that it existed it did.

[@jhinpotion9230]

@@jaeg.3806 I'm pretty sure he did his crits right exactly 0 times, but in theory, anyway, Mindless Rage exists

[@siroreo]

Jhin Potion the confusion of his crits was one of my favorite parts of that campaign.

[@saintpoli6800]

Poor Travis though, dude struggles with math so much. Best thing to do, is obviously write down all the dice you need to roll and use a calculator.

[@KrackerJak]

"Don't let the numbers get in the way of playing a character you're going to love" is a wonderful thing to keep in mind.

[@UlrichUlrichson]

We had a one shot at level 15 and a group including one fighter, barbarian, and paladin. The difference was that the fighter was a champion using a +2 great sword, paladin was vengeance with a +3 maul, and the barbarian was totem bear using a +2 maul. In one round we dealt a total of 367 damage to a single ancient black dragon (it had double max HP) and it felt amazing. Dont remember if we could do much more than that but I'm sure it was close to max damage.

[@THEGRUMPTRUCK]

DM: Hi, welcome to dying school. *Player makes Zealot Barbarian.* DM: Aaaaand you failed.

[@zachlewis9751]

DM: Hi, welcome to the spellcasters school *player makes Eldritch Knight fighter* DM: Aaaaand you failed.

[@bigloser5104]

@@zachlewis9751 The eldritch knight fighter always lost his magic book, that's how the arcane trickster rogue became a spellcaster

[@andrewkimball1856]

I played a zealot barbarian that took the tavern brawler feat. My damage output was perfectly fine, and it was fun punching, wrestling, and smacking people with objects to death.

[@alanschaub147]

Andrew Kimball: I was going to make almost the same comment. The most fun I have had with a character was while playing Goliath Barbarian (Bear Totem). I rushed in, grappled with the biggest opponent, held their weapon arm, allowed my allies to hack at them, then picked them up and dropped them on their head for the killing blow. That was not even the funnest part. I then tore off the bad guy’s arm and used it (with proficiency) as a weapon against the other opponents while making Strength (Intimidation) checks. Most opponents fled. So hilarious! Obviously this would not work well with a gelatinous cube, although that character would have attempted it anyway.

[@hadeskingoftheunderworld7010]

@@alanschaub147 nice

[@princekermit0]

Zangheif from SF

[@MrBoom6009]

I have a guy in my campaign that does this, lol. A somewhat feral 7'3'' dragonborn druid tank that walks on all fours and uses "persuasion" (i.e. whatever he can get his hands on, sometimes a leg of an enemy) to do damage. Also he loves his "Happy juice" (alcohol). Funniest guy in the group.

[@DaBlueIghuana]

@@MrBoom6009 i basically play this but with a path of the beast (ua) barbarian

[@dizzykincade7831]

As someone who has never, but always wanted to play DnD, you guys do a hell of a job for the community. Your videos are fun, informative and make people like myself itch like a crack fiend to find a group. Keep up the good shit.

[@3RR0R210]

Ever find a group?

[@davidpellecchia4360]

I have a fighter with 20 strength. We lost our weapons and thrown in a jail. We broke out and I managed to suplex an enemy breaking their neck (nat 20) made me excited to fight more.

[@azuredragoon2054]

Eldritch Knight: Screw that. *Weapon teleports into his hand.* Guard: What the... *Dies as the EK slashes down both door and guard with one swing.*

[@LifeLongMETALHead83]

How? Unarmed strikes are 1+Str. Thats a max damage of 6.

[@cthulhueldergod5875]

@@LifeLongMETALHead83 Maybe DM allowed to kill that enemy through athletic test. Sounds pretty cool

[@cygnusereve4779]

@@LifeLongMETALHead83 either rule of cool, unarmed fighting style (1d8), or weak guard.

[@giantdwarf9491]

I've got a wrestler/ grappler character in the works rn that I'll mostly use for crowd control bc my class let's me throw enemies into each other and every time I do they have to make a successful save or fall prone. I can't wait to finally play it

[@josephcohen734]

Monty: "The fact that the barbarian is halving all that damage is difficult to quantify" Me: "It's basically the same as if they had double hit points, especially if they're bear totem"

[@johanlassen6448]

Better, actually, because healing is more potent: I.e. if you have a character with 200 HP who takes 100 damage and heals for 50, that means they are back at 75% of their max HP (150/200). But if you instead have a character with 100 HP who takes 100/2 damage (=50) and heals for 50, then that character is back at 100% of their max HP (100/100). So in essence, it is rather the same as if they had double hit point *and* double healing effects.

[@gabrieldelarosacols8984]

I just love the way you guys do math to maximize the utility of the character.

[@garyco766]

@@johanlassen6448 And odd damage rounds down.

[@TKZ100]

@@johanlassen6448 damage reduction is almost always better than extra HP in most games for this exact reason

[@smile-tl9in]

it does matter to a barbarian if the party get you advantage, albeit in a different manner : you can stop reckless attacking wich means ennemies stop getting adventage to hit you

[@toribiogubert7729]

Yeah but even without reckless most attacks would hit barbarians anyway.

[@WolfHreda]

@@toribiogubert7729 that's kinda the point. Your Rage ends if you go a round without dealing or taking damage, so being easier to hit allows you to keep pumping out the big numbers while your foes continue hitting you for half every turn.

[@Rob526]

@@toribiogubert7729 early on its about just under half attacks hit, since most things have like +4 or 5 to hit and barbs should have 15 ac minimum at level 1, up to probably 16 or 17 if rolling

[@RobKinneySouthpaw]

Champion also tends to crit a lot when rolling with advantage. Druid throws faerie fire, and the champion will wreck stuff.

[@jean-christophearsenault2104]

I'm a mastermind rogue paired with a champion half orc with 20 str. This is gonna be fun :D

[@AzureIV]

A Kobold Samurai gets all the advantage (though they work better with a ranged crossbow mastery/sharpshooter build).

[@dittmar104]

Rob Kinney man if only the barbarian would pick up a shield and go path of the wolf totem. Two man wrecking crew

[@AzureIV]

@@dittmar104 Barbarians start with shield proficiency.

[@dittmar104]

@@AzureIV exactly barbarian with shield and shield master feat who gives everyone within 5ft advantage is nuts you don't even need to reckless attack because the fighter and rouge are exploding the enemy for you just keep them off them

[@gamester512]

For absurd melee damage you merely need to look at Grog's one turn of combat in "The Search For Grog". Two consecutive Natural 20s led to him dishing out abound 151 damage in a single round, more or less one-shotting the Corrupted Empyrean that the party was fighting. That is why Barbarians can be damn scary. And add on to that the fact that Grog was easily one of the hardest members of the party to actually take down, and Grog is perhaps the scariest member of Vox Machina if he ever manages to get into melee range.

[@erayergi]

Grog was definitely awesome but let's not forget Percy with the Bad News, he dealt more damage than Arkhon, a Paladin using Smite :D

[@siroreo]

Eray ERGİ no Mercy Percy and Grog are great examples of the difference in damage of barbarian and fighters. Grog would do more damage in one hit, but Percy will attack 4 times and just blow people away.

[@RockChalk263]

@@siroreo Grog did more damage that campaign though. Percy was third iirc. Vex was 2nd I believe.

[@windsgrace688]

I recently made a strength-based tortle kensei monk for a one-shot and I'm really starting to think that tortles should almost be a no-brainer pick for barbarians. They gain a +2 to strength and +1 to wisdom while having an innate AC of 17 due to their shell's natural armor. To me, a high-AC barbarian just sounds like a nightmare for any physical fight. Plus, you could always channel your inner Raph from Ninja Turtles for roleplay.

[@Foretelling]

Yeah but playing a tortoise is lame as fuck. Who tf wants to be a tortoise lmao

[@tomcone394]

"I love playing a Tortle!"

[@megan_alnico]

The most important thing to me about character optimization is that I really need to know what’s possible. If it fits my concept I want to use it and I want to selectively choose a “lesser” path only when the RP/concept demands it. But I don’t want to waste who knows how many hours building an ineffective party member. Thank you so much for these guides.

[@ChristnThms]

Mechanically, the PAM+GWM Zealot is a no-shitter. I actually find the simple mechanics liberating though, as everyone know exactly what I'm going to do every round in combat. That frees me to roleplay is up with goofy antics and cheesy action-hero one-liners.

[@Comicsluvr]

For a beginning player who is very comfortable with role-play (like a theater major...) a character that is mechanically simple is the bomb. Barbs are great for this.

[@dynestis2875]

@@Comicsluvr I graduated as an actor, can confirm with my warforged barbarian.

[@Comicsluvr]

@@dynestis2875 My friends and I are running a campaign later this year. The 4 of us are all Warforged. Wildly different backgrounds and personalities. Our Barb player is a great RPer so I look forward to seeing what he comes up with.

[@derekhandson351]

Barbarians are always the best first character. It was mine lol

[@herrkrabbe148]

Before i watch this episode, during 2019 i wrote a quite long essay on how to maximize the damage over an infinite number of rounds for a melee character in dungeons and dragons 5e. What i ended up with was that three levels into fighter (champion) to then go 17 levels into arcane tricster (for the hand advantage) was what would deal most damage. according to my calculations the average damage of this build was 44.9 damage with a standard deviation of 15.7. the "large" deviation is caused by critical hits bein in the calculation. My calculations also accounted for among other things a lvl 20 barbarian zealot (37.8 dmg, standard deviation of 17.5), and 3 levels of fighter champion and 17 levels of barbarian zealot (42.7 dmg, standard deviation 25.3), lvl 20 fighter champion (36.7 dmg, and std of 12.7), and lvl 20 rouge trickster (43.3 dmg and std of 13.2). My calculations include miss chance, cits, critical miss, class features. It does not account for AC, modifiers (all modifiers are set to 0 unless you are a barbarian and get +4 strength at a certain level), it does neither account for feats or ability score improvements. Since most of the modifiers added by all these things are static modifiers you can simply add the modifier to the damage without changing the standard deviation. edit: if anyone is wondering, yes the calculations are purely mathematical, not a single die was rolled. The spread sheet used an area of 109 368 squares.

[@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar]

Ranger: "am i a joke to you" yes

[@gamester512]

This is STRENGTH based melee DPS, Rangers usually tend to be more Dexterity focused with the use of finesse melee weapons or ranged weapons.

[@gamester512]

@Nospam Spamisham Yep. Rangers usually focus on Dexterity over Strength, as they're good at both melee and ranged combat (as well as some limited spellcasting capabilities as well), so they have more versatility, but that comes at the cost of being exceeded in terms of DPS by other more specialized Classes. For instance, a Rogue will often do absurd levels of damage whenever they can get off a Sneak Attack. But a Ranger's damage output will tend to be fairly consistent. Rangers can make very good ranged DPS however, especially against enemies that are difficult, if not impossible, to fight with magic (like a Beholder). So none of the classes are really "Bad" per se, it mostly comes down to the build and how effective it is. Bards for instance can be extremely good, just look at Scanlan driving freaking *Vecna* mad with frustration by just constantly using counterspell on him. That's a Gnome Bard driving a being that is basically a Demigod *and* a Lich mad. And some multi-class options can be very powerful as well, such as Barbarian/Fighter, Barbarian/Paladin, Sorcerer/Warlock, etc.

[@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar]

gamester512 fighters can be dex if the want.

[@gamester512]

@@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar I know, but most people will probably make Fighters Strength based.

[@kaemonbonet4931]

Fite me

[@timtimtiroo]

I've been playing dnd for a little under a year. But I find myself delving deeper into the lore and and the opinions of characters and classes and spells from people who have played for years. I really enjoy your videos and I'm watching through them all now. Thank you

[@riccardoconti6682]

Guys, I'm always so pumped when I see your new video!!!

[@jaxx1258]

My favorite melee combatant that I've ever made was a Lizardfolk Path of the Beast Barbarian. I literally fought tooth and nail, and I took a 2 level dip in Rogue to get expertise in athletic to make an insanely reliable grappler. The most fun thing about him was the 40ft movement speed regardless of swimming or climbing so I could really use the terrain to my advantage and be a feral monster on the field.

[@TuckBolt]

*Demons:* Yeeeeessss *Paladin:* YEEEEEESSS! *Demons:* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

[@themadhacker9376]

i just want to point out...that is a dope jigglypuff hat

[@SirStanleytheStumbler]

shiny one at that

[@bransbach7674]

Mclaughlin has nerdism on clutch.

[@snoopanoop7705]

Also the Chewbacca shirt

[@BigggusDikkkus]

his collection of nerd apparel is very impressive

[@HiopX]

very appropriate for the topic

[@typoko]

From my experience of playing a barbarian, the 4 times of rages you have at level 8 is decent, but you can't rely to have them for every combat in a dungeon / hostile area. Worst part is that it is actually relatively easy to drop off if you try to activate it before you have taken any damage in combat / be able to attack on the same turn. And boy does it suck to be a barbarian when you aren't raging :D You can still recklessly attack but at that point you are getting toasted really hard if doing so. With the mentioned build you can't even take a turn to dodge to wait for a heal or try to get someone else take some of the heat because that's when the rage drops and you are again using BA to get it up. I'm playing a battlerager and I have found it to be extra good to be able to attack with bonus action without taking the attack action so the rage can keep going. Ending this rant, but just wanted to raise some awareness that the rages are also a limited resource.

[@christopherclubb9167]

typoko not to mention that if an enemy caster had the Calm Emotions spell you will get neutered

[@grimwar715]

Currently playing a Horizon Walker Ranger in a friends campaign, absolutely loving the role-play abilities of it and the damage is pretty decent too. So I was pretty keen to see a one of your many fantastic videos like this one! Keep up the good work dudes!

[@mbjargvide]

During social distancing, I convinced my wife to try DnD in a solo campaign that I'm creating for her. When I asked what she wanted to play she basically said "I want to be small and cute and able to beat the snot out of things while wearing a nice dress". Then she rolled insanely well for stats, so I helped her build a stout halfling barbarian with 18 strength and unarmored AC of 16, two-handing a warhammer. She recently got lvl3 and picked sea storm soul, so now she's basically a tiny Thor. Not the absolute highest damage output, but she's definitely dangerous. I'm having so much fun playing with her!

[@dumbledilf]

That's adorable man.

[@DaMuetze]

We had a funny feat of strength in our last one-shot, where I play a Minotaur Barbarian. There was a Giantz Lizard Race going on and our two teams of three players each were sponsored by one of the townsfolk. That meant we needed to be the first ones to cross the Finish line. Each team had a big riding lizard which fit 3 people: 1 "driver" and 2 attackers, which could hinder the other teams. No lizards were allowed to be harmed. Our teams were in front after a while, but the last enemy team was closing in, so I said "win it guys!", jumped in the way of the big lizard and tried to stop it in its tracks! It took a few Athletic checks, but in the end it worked and not only did that lizard's respect for my barbarian's strength rise, I just really like the image of the Minotaur standing in the way, spreading his arms and shout "Come, try to pass me!" and then stopping a gigantic komodo dragon in front of a filled stadium. Too bad it's just a one-shot... I really want to play with that barbarian a bit more ^^

[@carlosrivera9047]

Please do a video like this for Building strong ranged fighters :)

[@DungeonDudes]

We will!

[@AzureIV]

Get the Archery fighting style and the feats Crossbow Mastery and Sharpshooter. A 20th level fighter can get 5-9 attacks per round for huge damage numbers.

[@Birdzlitlehelpr]

In addition to what Azure said, also take magic initiate feat and grab hex for some extra damage, plus go samurai for an extra attack at level 15, and you can grant yourself advantage 3 times per long rest as a bonus action. Or go battle Master for precision attack, but my personal preference is samurai

[@AzureIV]

@@Birdzlitlehelpr I would probably want Hunter's Mark over Hex (same +1d6 damage and 90ft range, but is only Verbal components instead of all three V/S/M that Hex is) and does unmarked damage instead of necrotic which tend to be resisted by many enemies.

[@Birdzlitlehelpr]

@@AzureIV good point, I said hex thinking about that disadvantage to 1 save you can apply, but hunters mark would be much easier overall

[@theshadow5251]

In my current group we have: an aarocokra long death monk, a bugbear frenzy barbarian, a krynn eldritch knight, and a half-elf vengeance paladin(me). The damage we do is pretty insane. Both the players and the dm crit often and roll high. Combat is pretty intense. Double and triple crits are rare, but not unheard of

[@bibliobeauti6487]

I play a Barbarian and I love her. She’s one of my top favourite characters so far. Lol

[@dynestis2875]

Wanna armwrestle my warforged barbarian?

[@dreadpirateshanx5288]

My Minotaur Barbarian joined the bar fight by flipping the table, it was fantastic.

[@alexzepedaazaz]

You too play a Minotaur Barbarian!?!? You have good taste sir.

[@dreadpirateshanx5288]

@@alexzepedaazaz I see you're a man of culture too

[@hadeskingoftheunderworld7010]

@@dreadpirateshanx5288 said the minotaur of barbarian. All jokes aside nice choice

[@kasakuie]

I'm glad I watched this video. I am currently building a Protector Aasimar that is going to be a Zealot Barbarian/Devotion Paladin using a Glaive. So I will defendantly be making sure to grab GWM and Polearm Master feats. The idea of the character came from the Angels in Diablo 3.

[@RuneDShyznit]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but you have just theory crafted Zhang Fei (barbarian) and Guan Yu (fighter) and I love you for it.

[@theshreddedone8322]

What are those?

[@josec.6394]

@@theshreddedone8322 what are thoooooooose?

[@RevPirateDan]

FWIW, I used live not too far away from Dwarven Forge HQ and have run into some of those folks every now and then. They've always been really nice and seemed like the kind of people you want to game with.

[@ImSquiggs]

I started a one-shot with a Halberd fighter at level 9... he is obscene. If your DM will let you take Tunnel Fighter (from Unearthed Arcana I believe), and you grab the feats Polearm Master, Great Weapon Fighting and Sentinel, then you get opportunity attacks on anyone that enters your 10 foot radius (due to Polearm Master), all of which don't cost your reaction (due to Tunnel Fighter), and each hit sets your enemy's movement to zero (thanks to Sentinel). This means you can get rushed by pretty much any number of weak mobs and just stop them all dead in their tracks, and when your turn comes up you just do your attacks (plus using your bonus action as an attack thanks to Polearm Master, and adding 10 damage to attacks with Great Weapon Fighter) and move back five feet and it all happens again. If you're getting rushed by trash mobs, get ready to roll about 10 attacks in your turn. And finally, if that isn't dirty enough for you, you can take Bugbear as your race and extend your reach an ADDITIONAL five feet.

[@JB-xl2jc]

Squiggs 【Glitches - ROM Hacks - Speedruns】 And if you’re a bugbear isn’t it 15 feet instead of 10?

[@S7evieL001]

I have a similar build, but I'm a Half Orc, Oath of Vengeance Paladin. But I have a Glaive, Tunnel Fighter, Polearm Master, and when I get to level 8, I'll be taking sentinel. Even without sentinel, I'm hitting plenty of enemies with the reach, the free attacks when they enter my range and the strike and retreat tactics that I can pull off. Plus as a Half Orc, when I crit, I crit HARD, with an extra 1d10 weapon damage (plus then all the Divine Smite stuff that I can use)

[@nickonline5462]

Honestly, Tunnel Fighter is dumb. I'm willing to bet money that it will NEVER become official published material and it's been around for a long time (it has made it into the books in the sense that it was redesigned as the Cavalier Fighters lvl 18 capstone ability - because of how fucking OP that "fighting style" is).

[@ImSquiggs]

@@nickonline5462 Agreed friend, hahah. It's super good on it's own, but paired with Polearm Master it's just next-level broken. I should never be doing 5-10x the damage of the rest of my team combined, but when you get so many free attacks it's just bonkers

[@Bokmoh]

Oooh this couldn't be timed better. Thanks boys.

[@maxkogan3785]

Berserker Barbarian is slept on as a damage dealer. I helped a player make his first Barbarian for my campaign. When he got Great Weapon Master, he was averaging around 50 damage per round AT LEVEL 5 whenever he would hit all 3 times.

[@logankerlee1988]

Holy crap, amazing video! I haven't played very much 5th edition, but after watching this I feel that I know much more. It will certainly help if/when I do build a character. Thank you so much! :)

[@morganfortney3673]

I'm playing an oath of conquest Palladian and that's a show stoper

[@AzureIV]

Conquest gets freaking Spiritual Weapon as a spell. Huge damage boost.

[@TheChiefSK]

yeah buddy :D playing the same. damage is huge. but his channel divinity is fkn dominating any battelfield.

[@maid_of_heart3261]

@@TheChiefSK A fallen aasimar conquest paladin with Wrathful Smite always prepared is pretty much the battlefield king, especially once you get your Aura of Conquest. I love it

[@rick44451]

Had a party with all three. It got crazy. When we fought single enemies we would just run circles around the poor thing to give each other advantage. Add in a twin spell haste and resources and even the big bads went down easy

[@tko-bx4bd]

I play a Dwarf Barbarian named Daniel Devicho (based off Danny Devito) who loves alcohol so much he worships the god Dionysus. He drinks when he enters rage which can give him certain powers while he’s raging and he’s super super fun to play. I also love role playing with him and doing his accent. The personality and backstory comes from a bit of his character in Always Sunny in Philadelphia and in Hercules

[@kamishininookami9620]

Not making a point, just sharing a cool thing that happened: I once was playing a 5th level paladin and our party came about one of the BBEG'S main hench men who was a vampire. It was supposed to be a long battle for all 5 of us, untill i ended up finishing him off in 3 rounds by dealing 80-90 damage per round😀

[@ashrannafkhiend9728]

I was playing a high level game, where the players were after items with "god power." My character was one of the ones who ended up getting one of these items To get the item, i had to go through a skill challenge. With an 18 str barbarian, (and a few buffs from my party) i had to pull not only my party, but a boulder they were standing on in a race against the keeper of the item. As part of the Skill Challenge, we came up to a wall. GM asks: How do you get over it. I go: I'm going through it. GM: How? Me: I grab the chain tethering me to the boulder, and i hurl it at the wall without breaking stride. We rolled it out, the party making dex saves all around to stay on, and I busted through the wall, shortly after gaining my God Item. Once we had these God Items, we were instructed to make a level 20 version of our characters (in a level comp we intended to follow) I took Eagle Totem Barbarian 10, Champion Fighter 3, Kensei Monk 7 I was a dual wielder as well. Come the final boss fight vs a guy who had like 3 or 4 of these God Items. Fight starts, I rage, activate my God Item (turns me into a Glabrezu while keeping my class abilities) and charge the 20 feet to him with my stupidly high movement speed. I grapple him and succeed easily. GM tries to move to the next person and I tell him I still have the rest of my movement and my bonus action. I continue running with him in my hand, dragging him along the ground, using my eagle totem to dash. GM tells me there's a wall before the end of my movement. I slam him into the wall and change direction to use the rest of my movement dragging him along the wall. This dealt something like 70ish damage total. On his turn he shapeshifts to one of his God Forms and translocates 40 ft into the air and starts casting spells. When my turn came back around, I was allowed to leap into the air, vaulting off some nearby terrain, and grab him by the wings with another grapple. Another 60 or so damage. On the way down I slammed him into the ground with all my strength on impact. I took no fall damage due to my monk levels. He translocates and changes his form again next round (this time on the ground). I charge him and use the Gore Attack of the Glabrezu. Natural 19, a crit from my fighter levels. With Brutal Critical, I was rolling 21d10. 130 damage and change. I use my second attack and flurry. Another 80 damage or so. The rest of the party downed him before he got another turn with me dealing about 1/3 of the total damage dealt to the boss. I felt super powerful after that combat, though because of the circumstances of the campaign my level was reduced to 10 after that, and i sadly had to leave that group due to a move across the US after that session. Still miss that group.

[@datalysjr3339]

*Dude at least you left with a bang!*

[@ashrannafkhiend9728]

@@datalysjr3339 true. I sill love telling that story.

[@soldierx345]

While playing a low level Halloween themed campaign at a local brewery, we came across a magical broom that started attacking us. My half-orc fighter successfully grappled it and failed to break it over his knee. After finding the 2 ghost children, the 6-year old possessed me and left me afraid of my own shadow and weeping sporadically. Luckily my fiancé played as a magic user and freed me of the ghost post-haste.

[@DaBlueIghuana]

i should use a Glabrezu Demon in a one-shot, thank you for reminding me of their existence

[@ashrannafkhiend9728]

@@DaBlueIghuana no problem. Make sure you research their behavior patterns and what they're responsible for in demonic politics.

[@pixelnpc8480]

I feel as though the Samurai Fighter was slept on in this video. One of their first abilities gives them three rounds of advantage attacks with only a bonus action, and combined with the temp hp gained it can really help keep your output up and running.

[@bluedragonguild]

This is one of my favorite videos you guys have done. I like seeing how you guys approach this idea. I think it’d be cool to see an update since we have had some new feats and several new subclasses!

[@jasonmackay7898]

I love how you mentioned using Drax as inspiration if you are playing a low intelligence brute cause I totally did that when I rolled my barbarian and it came out to having 7 wisdom and 7 intelligence.

[@HiopX]

"I move so incredible slow, that I cast invisibility"

[@Lrbearclaw]

Currently, I am running my Barbarian in a game. I dipped 3 of his 4 levels into Fighter because I wanted Champion's 19/20 crit range. Now I am going full Barbarian. I played this guy back in Pathfinder and 1 shot a boss... pissed that DM off.

[@Lrbearclaw]

Never watched it. Khongol's build was crazy though. Blasted out over 400 damage in one round. First blow was over 100hp.

[@stevesmith5883]

@@Lrbearclaw In a party I'm in currently we have a Barb/Palidin who did a similar thing, my Warlock did something like 30 damage to a boss, then this charectar was up next, proceeded to do around 250 damage with some insane rolls (2 nat 20's and rolled really close to max damage both times). Boss went down in a single round without everyone even got a turn, boss was a demon-lady thing (homebrew) and was going to have difficult magic and buffs, DM didn't get to use any of it and was pretty pissed and had to improv most of the session as the fight was meant to potentially take hours but it was done in 15 minutes.

[@delacreaux]

Anytime I think about strength in conjunction with roleplaying games, I'm reminded of the Bardic Broadcast classic "look at the MUSCULARITYYYY"

[@lowellarnett3172]

Yep--> Sir Yilvs Hershlagson Defender of Harkenhold, Knight of Winterhaven. Pld 6/ Sorc 9/ Warl 4. Devil's sight, Darkness (w/ Assist, Thx Sven), shadow blade. Quickend Booming Blade +Booming Blade + Smites (4 days) =[ 3d8 (booming Blade) + 4d8 (Shadow Blade) + 6d8 (in Avernis) ] Twice! I have had the great pleasure of rolling 26d8 a couple times in our current campaign, I must say it feels good! tyvm Cameron for high level DMing, Its WORK!

[@MeMyselfI-BSG]

The Barbarian is the one that shouts, "LEROY JENKINS!!!!" and runs in.

[@mohammadmurie]

LLLEEEEEEEEEERRRRRROOOOOOYYYYY JEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNKINS

[@roobtube6707]

Yeah just a great weapon master fighter with a great sword - 8d6 damage at level 20 - and 16d6 with action surge.

[@jeremyanderson6395]

"Didn't Joe start a bar fight by throwing a table at a guy?" Sounds like my sister.

[@adrianschilbach8756]

Great video guys! I only started my first 5e character about 6 months ago and my DM, knowing I am a bit of a power gamer, suggested PAM and Sentinel vHuman. I'm so glad I picked Paladin to play as it gives me great RP opportunities from scolding people for unlawful acts to yelling cool deity based phrases when I charge into combat and has given me versatility on the battlefield on top of being a big damage dealing tank. Min max damage is cool but the RP is even more fun!

[@saltypork101]

Update: The strength Ranger is good for big damage now. Taking the Crusher feat and a maul instead of polearm master can really make Horde Breaker sing. This makes sense because Rangers already have a bunch of good uses for their bonus action. If you did want bonus action attacks, a one level dip into War Cleric gives you a limited number of those (again that's fine because you usually have other cool things to do with a bonus action) and heavy armour, as well as a bunch of great spells.

[@kevinsmith9013]

For the ultimate tank, go with heavy armor master at level 1. 60% of the time, it works every time.

[@alanschaub147]

Kevin Smith wrote: “60% of the time, it works every time.” That’s the best quote, ever! 😊👍🏻

[@S7evieL001]

Oath of Vengeance Paladin is the most powerful, in my opinion, IF your DM lets you use Unearthed Arcana Fighting styles. This is because you can take the "Tunnel Fighter" stance, which if you use your bonus action to go into it, then you can make Attacks of Opportunity without using your reaction. If you swap Great Weapon Master for Sentinel, then you can hit everything that comes into range (Polearm Master) reducing their speed to 0, and then from level 7, you can move up to half your normal speed as part of that attack, means that you can literally just keep the enemy stuck in their tracks at all points, as long as you can hit 1 enemy a turn with an Attack of Opportunity. I've got a Half Orc Paladin, Oath of Vengeance in a campaign now, which is running this build. I didn't intend to make something that could be pretty dang powerful (It was an accident, I just fancied playing a paladin with reach attacks that aimed to control the battlefield a little. Also we have a Barbarian in the campaign, so I won't be able to pull off the full battlefield control idea anyway). My attacks on average aren't super powerful, but the fact that I can hit everything with opportunity attacks, and rack up damage that way, and then smite things on crits (on my turn) is really powerful overall. On a Crit, my paladin can put out 3d10 (Glaive, plus the extra 1d10 from the Half Orcs Savage Attacks) + 6d8 (2nd level spell slot Smite) damage. That's truly a best case scenario for big burst damage, but even without that, the control element of this build is what really makes it strongest. Again, that is all my opinion, and from running with my own (sub optimal leveled) character, and by the time I get to level 8, I'm guessing this build will really take off

[@OriginalStormi]

Oath of Vengeance Paladin x8, Fighter x2 (for action surge) - used action surge to attack four times, missed once, hit regular once, crit twice and used divine smite at level 3 on each crit. Dealt 169 total damage that turn

[@JorisVDC]

WHUT??

[@FyremaelGlittersparkle]

I have a dwarven paladin in-game that sees herself as the party's shield. She's definitely STR-based, but she's always ready to throw herself between squishier party members and the bad guys and her AC and HP are the envy of everyone else in the party. At level 5, she's still not the best on saving throws, but at level six, her ability to deliver her CHA bonus to saves on herself and anyone who is within 10 feet of her is probably going to literally save lives. As it is right now, when our party stacks up to go into a dungeon, so many of them want to be right behind the paladin. It's been a build I didn't think I'd enjoy as much as I have, actually, but she's become a really endearing member of the party. Even with a party that has a fighter in it, we're routinely outshadowed in damage by our rogue whose sneak attack damage is consistently at 20+ points/attack. Nobody can match our rogue for constant damage.

[@maki_game]

Barbarian: *attack many times with a greatsword and deal 40 damages.* Rogue just say “Okay” and deal 50 damages with one small dagger

[@EricDuncan]

gods forbid you opt for multi-classing barb rogue and using daggers with strength instead of dex...

[@krg1331]

Shortsword or Reper works too

[@5678Hazza8765]

I dont think sneak attack works when using strength does it?

[@EricDuncan]

@@5678Hazza8765 as long as the weapon has the finesse property you can sneak at with it. What stat you use makes no difference.

[@5678Hazza8765]

@@EricDuncan oh sweet, thanks man

[@bahamutkaiser]

Hey, Thor is educated, his battle charisma is just too high to compete

[@Behindthejab]

So are many of the strongmen and most really strong people I know.

[@warriorfelin6092]

Fighter tactics Need: battle master surclasse ,GWM and high ac Maneuvers riposte,trip and (maybe) precision attack First attack: trip the ennemi to gain advantages for future attack Second,third and fourth attack are regular attack but need to use GWM just once. Fifth attack: Trigger the opportunity attack of the ennemis and miss to use riposte

[@Br00B]

We had a Grave Clerc and Vengeance Paladin. She readied pact of the Grave when he would hit. So the target would have vulnerability against the attacks. Once he critted so he did around 180 damage in a turn.

[@smbakeresq]

Not mentioned is a Paladin of Crown awesome ability to use Spirit Guardians. In a game with almost no auras it stands out as guaranteed DPM. Also a Paladin can have Bless on tap, which allows your attacks to hit more and makes GWM more useable.

[@joshuaroberts3714]

I am playing Throck, a level 2 (so far) Barbarian with a two-handed maul and an intelligence of 6, and I’m loving it!

[@justsomeguy-yd3yw]

Sounds like my character Thud. Hes 5 in barb, 4 in druid. Int of 6. Isnt it fun playing a moron?

[@joshuaroberts3714]

justsomeguy3612 - just so much fun!

[@justsomeguy-yd3yw]

@@joshuaroberts3714 want to trade some war stories? Thud once ripped off a goblins arm and started playing a game of "Why are you hitting yourself"

[@joshuaroberts3714]

justsomeguy3612 ha! Yeah. Throck just realized that the Druid he is in a group with is a servant of the Raven Queen... not that she IS the Raven Queen. More stories to come!

[@joshuaroberts3714]

justsomeguy3612 and then there was the time Throck brought an ox into the inn because his party said they were hungry and there happened to be some oxen out back. Not sure the inn was supposed to be a slaughterhouse, but that happened.

[@irmakkaya9331]

As a powerlifter, playing a very powerlifter-inspired Paladin: really appreciating the mention of strength-based competitions and sports!!

[@PMcGuffin]

I went the opposite route and play a gnome with a strength of 9 but as an ex strongman competitor the urge to make a fighter or barbarian with my real life strength stats was real.

[@TheDreamburner]

I don't generally play characters which are min-maxed anymore, but I did recently create a very fun concept as an "Errol Flynn-type" rapier-wielding Elven OotA Paladin. The Dualist fighting style granting that bonus +2 in addition to being an elf with a pig-sticker at Dex 20 meant I was finessing my way to 1d8 +7 consistently, before considering Smite. When at last we gained some levels, I actually took Defensive Duelist for flavor and for the major spike to opportunity defense, both for mobility OAs and spellcasting OAs on the fronline. This created a great melee build, imo, and the OotA REALLY took off when we reached 10th level and my character began conferring resistance to magic damage to the frontline, while still granting control options like Control Plants or buffs like Bless and Crusader's Mantle. Thematically, and just to see how it would work out, I am very interested in obtaining three levels of Rogue for Swashbuckler and to gain Fancy Footwork and Rakish Audacity, which will not only be a good way to add Sneak Attack damage to his repertoire, but better still, a means to make Compelled Duel into a massive control and damage arrangement if I can get a target on its own.

[@AlphaFenris1]

Why use Battlemaster to crunch numbers? The way you ran scenario it adds nothing. Eldritch Knight can get advantage with a familiar, Champion crits more, Samurai gets advantage with Fighting Spirit

[@maksudshtrudel1089]

Samurai can do so many attack, like insanely large amount of attacks

[@jeffbaril4047]

You didn’t talk about the ability to re roll 1s and 2s for fighter and paladin I played a war cleric 1 fighter 4 str 18 with great weapon fighter so for early levels re rolling the 2d6 helps a lot

[@smbakeresq]

Jeff Baril it’s helps all the time, the average on a d6 is 3.5, if reroll the first 1 or 2 it’s 4.16, or 8.32 for a 2d6 weapon. A d12 weapon goes from 6.5 to 7.33. However, most improved critical abilities add a DIE of damage, not DICE of damage, so a barbarian only gets an additional d6 if using a great sword as opposed to a d12 if using an axe

[@jeffbaril4047]

smbakeresq yeah it was just weird that they didn’t bring this into the conversation for fighters and paladins

[@Tmanowns]

@@smbakeresq by the way, I was just looking at an article on what point a great axe is more worth it. It's basically only at 15th level as the right race and class combo (half orc champion fighter and barbarian to milk crits) against enemies with high AC. But, it's also more fun to play a barbarian with a great axe.

[@christianbennett2001]

Love the analysis! It's so nice to see others break down dnd to a science because I can't help but do that myself. Just wanted to post my personal favorite melee build: the coffeelock paladin. If you don't know what a coffeelock is the easy way to explain is you have a lot of spell slots from a combo between pact magic and font of magic. For the build I just use those spell slots for smites! Simple as that. If you balance it right and dual wield you can do a smite every attack by about level 6 and as you increase in level so do the smites and number of attacks from things like haste and thirsting blade. Hope you enjoy and happy hack and slashing!

[@TheFullRunThrough]

I have a Barbarian Earth Genasi NPC in my campaign. We got into a tavern brawl and he took a massive blow, dropping him from 23 to about 8 in one hit. He instantly went into his rage and double critted his next two attacks and almost one shot the other patrons. It was a disgusting amount of damage but such an amazing turning point in the fight.

[@anselamb9881]

Trying out a Fighter Champion atm, using a lance on foot, and went with the piercer feat, which lets you add an extra damage die on a crit, so I can crit on a 19 or 20, and when I hit I can roll 3d12 plus strength, so far so good, though there's something to be said for using a pike and getting polearm and/or great weapon master.

[@mortalitydoesstuff8965]

I love the visual of a strong warrior just fucking skewering enemies on their polearms like giant death kebabs. However due to the mechanics of flattened math, crit fishing builds aren't that great. I wish the weapon damage type feats didn't only proc on crits. Even if they had to be weaker to balance it out, it would be worth it just to have more moments where the player gets to say "hey I can do this thing I spent an whole ASI on"

[@kmoustakas]

I loved this video and how you went about it. I will offer though that at level 11 the barbarian will start falling behind due to the fighter's 3rd attack and the paladin's improved divine smite. Granted, for most campaigns that will be a non-issue but it is something important to keep in mind.

[@DungeonDudes]

This is a common misconception, but if you dig deeply into Kyrxx's spreadsheet, you'll see that the Barbarian is keeps up with the Fighter through higher levels. The fighter only truly surges ahead when they gain a fourth attack and an additional use of Action Surge.

[@majorcosmos2]

Barbarians are awesome. We had an encounter against 7 ogres. I took all the damage during that encounter. It came out to about 50hp, and I still had more health than anyone else in the party

[@diogogoncalves7994]

Paladin (2 levels) multiclass with sorcerer (6 levels), variant human with War Caster and the Tough Feat, booming blade (and if your DM allows it also shadow blade, which in a lot of situations would straight-up give you advantage to your attack rolls) with quickened spell or twinned spell (depends on the rulling of twinned spell + booming blade) deals an insane amount of damage with divine smite (much more than basically any of the options here, also take into account that your slots for divine smite would basically be doubled thanks to being almost a full caster). It also gives you some healing options and the advantage of being almost basically a full caster. The tough feat makes you basically as fit and capable of taking damage as a normal paladin would and the War Caster feat allows you to access booming blade for attacks of opportunity plus cast spells regardless of wielding weapons or shields, and it gives you advantage on concentration checks in the front of battle which is very useful for a melee mage.

[@StalinMcRally]

I like a hexblade 1-5, paladin 2, whisper bard3 build. Hexblade 1+ means cha is my primary combat stat and spell ability, hexblade 3+ lets me use 2h weapons. All three can access a type of smite that stack. No ASI/Feat buff though ;D

[@M0ebius]

Hexblade 5, Champion 3, Paladin 2, Whisper Bard 10 - Half Elf with Elven Accuracy (CHA), crit fish with Faerie Fire/Darkness/Greater Invisibility etc, Divine Smite+Eldritch Smite+Psychic Blade on a crit.

[@xFrontSightPostx]

I have a Witcher (fighter class) that uses longswords with 20 strength, Champion archtype + dueling. High athletics, light armor, and she sticks to principles of being a Witcher, which makes her fun and very deep as a character. Now, most people online say this is like the worst class. But it fits SO WELL for a Witcher, and I regularly deal around 25 damage, which makes her the most consistent damage dealer in the party.

[@AnonRx]

Hexblade is my favorite. Using the same level 8 character requirement. You can have 18 Charisma, pole-arm master, and great weapon master. Then as a Hexblade you crit on a 19 against hexed foes, as well as add your proficiency bonus to your damage. With pact of the blade you can use any great two handed weapon you want with proficiency (as well as summon it out of thin air in those pesky circumstances when you needed to be disarmed to enter some place). As well as attack twice with thirsting blade. Then there’s eldritch smite which does another 4D8 force damage and knocks your opponent of huge or smaller prone to gain advantage. All total at level 8 you do 1D10+7+10 with + 2 to hit (+4 Charisma +3 proficiency -5 GWM) with great weapon master on one regular attack against a cursed opponent. If you have Improved pact weapon add 1 to damage and attack. That’s all on one attack on your first turn. Which you can then use Smite if you hit on your first attack (I’d usually forgo the +10 -5 from GWM if I don’t have advantage). Add another 4D8 and knock enemy prone. Which then you can for sure use GWM with advantage. So on first round of combat you can use your curse as a bonus action. Hit twice for 2D10 +14 +10 (or 20) + 8D8. Critting on a 19. If that kills your opponent you then can raise an accursed Specter with additional bonuses to give advantage while you just keep hitting without smite for 2D10+7(no longer add proficiency to damage since your curse ended)+20+1D4+4+10 If you are fighting a lot of opponents you can always forgo using both smites right off the bat and utilize a regular hex after you kill your first foe to keep adding 1D6 to every attack that you can pass to subsequent enemies. Or maybe even utilize devil sight and darkness if none of your enemies have blindsight/tremmorsense/etc. There’s a lot of utility this class can have and with refreshing spell slots on a short rest you can keep your smites up for a long day of fighting. It gets even better as you level to 12 and can add an additional +5 necrotic to every hit from lifedrinker. Then armor of hexes is amazing. Best yet when you hit 14 you can pass your Hexblade curse to additional enemies. Top that off with your mystic arcanum choice (I like Soul Cage, being able to gain 2D8 hit points as a bonus action for 6 consecutive turns in nice).

[@greyskies9]

STR Rangers are actually pretty amazing with the setup described by the Dungeon Dudes - this is just ballparking, but I believe their potential damage output is probably slightly behind the Barbarian and ahead of the Fighter. They might even come on top depending on the setup. Here's why: STR Ranger (Hunter) level 8 with Polearm Master: - reliable +1d8 each round thanks to Colossus Slayer - You can use Hunter's Mark for an additional 1d6 per Attack, which means +2d6 in the first round when casting, +3d6 each subsequent round - For high threat enemies Hunter's Mark might not be the best option due to concentration, here Zephyr Strike is the way to go: You gain advantage on one attack (time to drop Great Weapon Master if you have it) and deal an additional 1d8 force damage (which means a minimum of 1d10 + 1d8 (Colossus Slayer) + 1d8 (Zephyr)) and you can move away from your target without Attack of Opportunity. Now here comes the funny part: Assuming that your target moves after you during its turn, you gain another use of the Polearm Master Attack of Opportunity (1d10+1d8) for free. Also, this means you can dance in and out of their threat range thanks to your Polearm's Reach: If the enemy goes after you, they pay with attacks of opportunity; if they don't, you hack away at them without taking damage. Doing some dirty math to assume dmg output of a STR ranger per round to be able to compare it to the Dungeon Dude's setup, the maximum damage (with Hunter's Mark on) is 20+6 (Polearm) + 4+3 (Polearm Bonus) + 30 (Great Weapon Master) + 8 (Colossus Slayer) + 18 (Hunter's Mark) = 89, averaged to 64 when taking into account dice rolls - meaning that even if you only hit about 50% of all attacks, you're still dishing out 30+ damage per round. Bottom line: STR Ranger is a highly versatile, high damage option. Bonus Points for multiclass with Fighter, which allows for even better damage output.

[@ThePhuNetwork]

This video has given me a plethora of linebackers at my disposal so that I can safely continue pretending to be Zhuge Liang in the back. Thank you for your service.

[@darksavior1187]

Is a similar comparison in the cards for spell damage and physical ranged damage?

[@DungeonDudes]

Yup!

[@nickonline5462]

I have a caster build that is able to cast four full action spells or up to six spells (if using bonus action spells and cantrips) all in a single turn. It's also capable of dishing out 540 average single target melee damage if you so choose. (Granted this is a late game build)

[@QudoRS]

@@nickonline5462 it's in the rules that if a full spell is used then only a cantrip can be used in the same turn. Meaning at most, 1 spell, and 1 cantrip in a turn.

[@ldsish]

@@QudoRS You ruined Nick's day, but his DM can house rule it.

[@M0ebius]

Nick Nothing deals more single target damage faster than the Nuclear Druids - Twilight Druid 16/Arcana Cleric 1/Fighter 2/Hexblade 1. Hexblade’s Curse into level 8 Magic Missile+Harvest Scythe (8d10) into Action Surged into level 7 Magic Missile+Harvest Scythe (8d10). The average is 535+481.5=1016.5 auto-hit force damage in a single round, which annihilates pretty much anything besides the Tarrasque. Circumvented by the Shield spell, so bring a friend with Counterspell and/or Invisibility.

[@Akatsukimember6]

Sorry I’m late, but I’m super glad I found this video. Finally a good guide on how to build my BBEG’s bodyguard.

[@GnatTheGnome]

My half orc greatsword vengeance paladin is GREAT at that spike damage. Just hit level 8. I agree with everything you pointed out here. Heavy armor master (for the DR) and Great weapon master.

[@Aleph-Noll]

orcish fury feat is also very good for that extra die at crits

[@Baconlord144]

The campaign that I run started with 3 players as a Fighter, Paladin and Barbarian lol

[@DungeonDudes]

It's like a team-up between Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Willis.

[@cattrucker8257]

I hope they walk into a bar at some point.

[@brcoutme]

Sounds like very unbalanced party, but a fun one anyways. I guess depending on coordination the Paladin can cover the Charisma, Barbarian the Wisdom, and Fighter the Intelligence based abilities. And hey Paladin got some healing, so while it sounds over damage focused could be relatively balanced.

[@billthecanuck]

i play a level 16 goliath (12 berserker barb, 4 champ fighter) in dungeon of the mad mage in adventure league, frozen at 16 until we hit tier 4 floors... with +3 greatsword, great weapon fighting and great weapon master i consistently do about 30 damage a hit +/-... crits in the low-mid 40's with 50+ being possible if i get mostly 6's lol. Last night managed to get the Strength manual to boost my strength to 22... so i have +9 to hit with great weapon master. I prefer greatsword over greataxe for a better average damage over the slightly bigger top end crits. probably the easiest character i've ever had to play but a tonne of fun haha. our party has built around me and i regularly get haste / bless / enlarged and make our DM's life difficult.

[@hadeskingoftheunderworld7010]

Nice

[@crazyscotsman9327]

I'm playing a Human Variant (got the GWM) Berserker Barbarian 4, and I plan on going for 3 BM Fighter rest Barbarian. Plan on getting the Sentinel Feat. Maneuvers I plan on getting Riposte. Once I hit 14 Bar. Oh you swing at me and hit? I get an attack, oh you attack my friend? I get an attack. Oh you attacked me and missed? I get an attack.

[@jelte3754]

@@crazyscotsman9327 I think the Sentinel reaction is reliable enough, you can use your Maneuvers to frighten/trip/shove in hazards (0 speed after AoO!)/disarm or even precision for 4 times extra :P Turning close misses into hits can be a more secure method at high AC levels

[@francispicotte6174]

"Might be feeling a little bit left in the dust", aka that feeling when big bad fighter Pluto sees lil kitty Veo score insane amounts of damage

[@quantumforest7905]

Currently building a Blade Bard that I’m going one of two ways with. First one: at level 10 will have Shadow Blade for weapon attacks, Spiritual Weapon for bonus actions, and to weaponize reactions most efficiently, add the Warcaster feat and Booming Blade. Option 2: Start as level 1 fighter, then bard 10. Take feats Dual wielder and Mounted Combatant. Take Find Greater Steed from the Paladin’s spell list, now you’re flying around on a gryphon/pegasus dual wielding lances. Not as good mechanically, but still freaking awesome.

[@travishipp4972]

4:00 "You can be that guy" I'm like I am that guy XD. I'm a Half-Orc Paladin Oath of the Dragon Knight with 25 Str.

[@Ehruel]

I'm going to be in a Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaign with a zealot barbarian, battlemaster fighter, unspecified paladin (all with two handed weapons), warlock, and tempest cleric. We're just going to blow through fights.

[@AllToastersToastToast]

I just finished playing in a campaign with a battle master fighter and a barbarian, both with great weapon master. It was quite the damage output. I was the swords bard with a level of order cleric. I like to attack myself, then give one of the damage dealers a healing word for yet another meaty attack. It’s a super fun combo.

[@nonbiri6966]

I gotta say, one of the things I look forward to most with these videos is seeing what Kelly is wearing this time.