This the last of the three articles on fighters will detail how I would progress each to level 5. Within this post I will cover what options to take and how they will fit with the concepts laid out in the first two articles. As mentioned before I will focus on building around the theme of each fighter. This will not always be the road to the most powerful fighter but rather a means to create the style of each.

The Tank at Level 5.

As with all fighters Fecklar gets Action Surge at 2nd level. This is a nice increase of attacks for one round. It is at 3rd level that the character diverges from the others. For his Martial Archetype Fecklar will take Champion. This gives him a straight bonus to his critical hits. He now gets a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20. Due to this 5% increase in his chance of making a critical hit means he can potentially increase his damage output. At later levels this will increase giving him an even better chance of landing a critical!

Stats Vs Feats.

As will all characters the choice of taking a stat increase or picking up a feat is a tricky one. But as Fecklar already has some impressive stats I have opted for a Feat. In keeping with his tank concept I have picked the Heavy Armour Master Feat. This not only gives him a cheeky +1 to his Str (making it 19) but also a powerful damage reduction. While wearing heavy armour he will get a -3 to all non-magical damage from slashing, piercing and bludgeoning attacks. At level 5 this will make him very tough to put down in a fight. Furthermore as it effects every attack landed on him the potential reduction of damage is pretty impressive. Finally at level 5 he gets the standard fighter extra attack. This is always nice as it increases his damage output and chance of hitting a critical.

The Blade at Level 5.

Again the 2nd level Action surge is a nice boost for any fighter. Berrick already has a high bonus to his attacks so the bump in attacks will only increase his overall damage. For his 3rd level Martial Archetype I have taken Battlemaster. It will give him some nice trick attacks that suit the swashbuckling concept. Plus he gets a bonus Artisans Tools use. For this I have gone for Smiths Tools. It is very much in keeping with his concept allowing him to forge his own blades down the line. At 3rd he gets three of the Combat Maneuvers and 4 D8 Superiority Dice. For these I picked Disarming Strike, Riposte and Evasive Footwork. All three are in keeping with the duellist style and each has a useful effect in combat. Nothing shouts swashbuckler like disarming an opponent.

Feats or Stats?

Unlike Fecklar Berrick could do with the increase to his base stats. While many of the feats would be nice, at this level the overall increase to his stats is worth more. After some consideration I decided on giving him +1 to his Dex making it 18 and +1 to his Str putting it up to 13. Both give an extra +1 to his bonuses. While he does not mainly use Str for attacking the increase could be helpful for saves or in a pinch using weapons without finesse. Lastly comes that ever useful extra attack at 5th. This only increases his damage output and chance of hitting in combat.

The Mystic.

In a departure from the previous two fighters for Thanwell I have opted to Multiclass. Taking one level of Monk. This will have two effects. Firstly he gains Unarmoured Defence allowing him to lose armour in favour of adding his Wis bonus to his AC. Secondly this move allows him to use a spear as a Monk weapon and add his Dex bonus to attacks and damage. Now the character can swap between throwing knives with both hands thanks to his two-weapon fighting or use a spear. At the next level Thanwell gains the Action Surge skill and can make three attacks with his daggers for a round.

Magic.

At level 3 fighter (level 4 overall) I have taken the Eldritch Knight Archetype. This gives him the Weapon Bond ability. With this he can summon his bonded weapons back to his hand. The image of hurling a spear into the fray only to have it appear back in the characters hand moments later is very in keeping with the Mystic concept. For the two Cantrips I decided firstly on Minor Illusion, always fun and could help delay opponents getting into melee. This is defiantly a plus for largely throwing weapon based fighter. And with the same thought in mind I picked Ray of Frost. The last choice was 1st level spells. The Eldritch Knight gets 3 at this level. The three I went with are Shield for bumping up AC, Sleep because its just a good low level spell and Grease for slowing down attackers once again.

The Old Stats Vs Feats again…

To round off the character I decided to pick up a Feat. Thanwell already has pretty solid stats so it was an easy choice. The Dual Wielder Feat was the best fit. It would allow him to fight with a spear in one hand and a dagger in the other or even two spears maybe? It also confers a +1 to Ac when the character is wielding two weapons pushing his AC to 17 in no armour! The downside to his Multiclassing is that he will be a level behind the other two and would have to wait another level before gaining the very powerful extra attack. But on balance it was worth it for the gains and to further overall concept.

Level 5 in Review.

So to wrap up this series of posts I have outlined three very different fighters with very varied skillsets. Each has been created with a concept in mind rather than how best to maximize the class. But I think each should be able to hold their own in a fight and would be fun to play in any game I have been part of. I might even have to try one out in the near future. I hope you enjoyed these posts and as always steal what you like, change it and make it your own. Or not and come up with your own ideas. If you have not already please read my previous posts Fighters and Building a Fighter at 1st Level.