So with the announcement of the D&D6e Fighter and alleged improvements to CR, I wonder if this will do anything to address the dirty little secret of the Fighter and other martials- they don't actually scale.
The numbers change, but the percentages only go up a little. A lot of times, they go down.
At level 1, you have 13 HP, and the enemies are doing 1d6+2 damage on a hit against your AC 16-18. You go down in 1-3 hits. You have about a 50% chance of hitting anything, and enemies about about 5-12 HP, usually dying in one to three hits.
Effectively, you actually have 2-3 Hit Points, and kill things in one to three hits.
At level 10, you have 104 HP, and then enemies (let's take the CR10 Stone Golem, Aboleth, and Young Red Dragon, but ignore the 16d6 Fire Breath) are making two to three +10 to hit attacks against your AC19 that are dealing 20 damage a hit. They have AC 17-18. You have about a 50% chance to hit anything with your two attacks. They have 150 HP, you deal 15 damage on a hit. You go down in 5-6 hits. You kill them in in about 10 hits.
You actually have 5 HP, and kill things in about 10 hits.
But luckily, you have Great Weapon Master or Sharpshooter. So they really die in 5 hits. On a -5 to hit penalty.
Now, bounded accuracy was supposed to keep lower CR creatures a plausible threat for longer. And a Fighter should be able to mow through these guys. We'll, that's the fantasy.
But even with GWM, a kill is only giving a bonus action attack. You're not mowing through hordes. A Level 15 fighter is killing 4 goblins a turn. Leave the horde killing to the casters.
And the DM is never letting that actually happen. You faced 5 goblins at level 1 and it was dangerous as hell. But you never face 5 goblins or kobolds at level 15. You face 30 goblins or 50 kobolds as a bit of flavor around 6d10 lava traps, an AEO poison fog, and all their dragon and demon friends. Oh yeah, the DM knows about Moria and Tucker's Kobolds. Everyone does.
The DM is also annoyed that your bard friend can sing people to death and juggle planes, and you have to pay for her sins against nature.
You are a level 15 fighter and actually have 6 HP, and kill important things in about 12 hits.
Luckily, you have 3 attacks now, and your party members in the good classes are now spitting out serious single target damage as well. That's what you're here for, to lock up the bad guy for a sneal attack or Finger of Death.
However, you only have Indomitable to pump up your +2 Wisdom saves. There are now thirty things between you and the pit fiend. It has 3 uses of hold monster a day and fireball at will. Every important enemy is a spellcaster.
So you are a level 15 fighter, and actually have a +2 wisdom save with two rerolls a day.
There are also fear auras now, so
yousharknotpass
theartofmadeline
jacobvanloon
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