Why are fighters (and rangers, and monks) better than everyone else at fighting? I'll tell you why they are NOT: It is not their better chance of landing a hit! In prior editions of the game, your base attack bonus (or THAC0, for you grognards out there) was better if you were a fighter. You just hit more often! That's NOT true in 5E D&D. Everybody gets the same proficiency bonus, advancing at the same (slow) rate. A wizard with a fire bolt is basically as likely as a fighter with a sword to hit the same foe.
My guess is that someone in the design unit at BigD&D said, "It's not fun for wizards if they hit less often than fighters. Everybody should be getting hits. That's fun."
Well, then what DOES make fighters more fighty? Why are fighters better than wizards at, say, fighting? The answer in 5E is number of attacks! Wizards, rogues, bards, clerics, etc. all attack but once per round (mostly). The real action is in getting more swings! Let's take a look at a few examples:
Dual-Wielding Fighter: At level 1, I can use a light weapon and nick weapon mastery to make two attacks as an attack action (if both weapons are light) -- and still have my bonus action free. At level 4 with the dual weilding feat, I can make two light weapon attacks as an attack action (with light weapons and nick), and an attack with my bonus action (that one can be with a non-light weapon). At level 5 I get two attacks with my primary light weapon with my attack action, a third (nick) attack with my second light weapon, also as part of my attack action, and an attack with my bonus action dual weilding, total four attacks. As an 11th level Fighter, that's three attacks with the primary weapon, a fourth attack with nick, and a fifth attack with dual weilding. Five attacks a round is sweet.
Ranger Beastmaster: At level 3, I get an attack action and a bonus action. With my bonus action I can tell my beast to use a Beast's Strike attack. I can sacrifice my attack action to give my beast a second "Beast's Strike" action. That's two attacks a round at level 3. At level 5 I get two attacks in an Attack action (I can only sacrifice one of those). That's three attacks a round (one from me and two from beast). At level 11, my beast gets two attacks per Beast's Strike. Now my attack count jumps to five, four from the beast, and one from me. Not too shabby.
Monk: As a monk, I start at level 1 with a bonus unarmed attack and a regular attack for two attacks a round. At level 2, flurry of blows makes that three attacks. At level 5, two attacks as an attack action and two as a flurry bonus action means four attacks total. At level 10, that's two attacks with the attack action and three unarmed strkes as a bonus flurry action: five total. Sweet. (And if I take the Weapon Mastery feat at, say, level 4, and I use a light nick weapon for my attack action, I can, by level 10, attack thrice with my attack action and thrice with my bonus action for SIX attacks a round. Ding ding ding! We have a winner. That's two attacks with weapon A, one with weapon B, and three swift kicks to the groin for the topper.)
And The Rest: It is worth mentioning that some classes and subclasses are in the middle ground between 1 attack per round and 5-6 per round. Paladins, Barbarians, Soulknife Rogues, and Valorous Bards, say, all get a second attack a round, either as a bonus action or as part of an attack action. The more fightery among these also gets bonuses to hit or damage.
I realize that I should hedge my initial coment on fighters being fighty wth more attacks and note that another way non-casters are fighty is by dealing more damage per attack. The ur-example here is the rogue. Only one sneak attack attack per round, but the sneak attack damage gets impressive. Note that the rules specifically say you can sneak attack only once per turn — that's because two of those a round would break the game. As I note in my last example, above, there is a happy medium of increased attacks and increased damage. Take the barbarian — extra attack gives two per round, and a slew of class abilities boosts damage.
I could make a graph, with damage per attack on one axis and number of attacks on the other. Maybe I'll do that ... someday.
Juggling Speaking of multiple attacks ... Let's talk for a bit about a popular topic online, and by "popular," I mean popular with minimaxers trying to optimize the heck out of the game. With nick, you have to attack with two light weapons, one per hand. With the Dual Weilding feat, you can attack with any weapon that is not two-handed. That's three weapons total. How do you do that without three hands? This is what the minimaxers refer to as "juggling." (Feel free to google that or search youtube, not to mention my AI-generated art at the top of the page.) However, I am more conservative with juggling than the more wild options out there.
The Attack Action entry in the Glossary of the 2024 PHB (p.361) says that "You can either equip or unequip one weapon when you make an attack as part of this action." One OR the ther, not both! For characters with more than one attack per attack action, does that mean you can equip/unequip one weapon per attack, or per attack action? My interpretation is that it means per attack action. I support this interpretation thusly:
- This is listed under the Attack Action, not under making attacks more generally.
- If you could equip/unequip once per attack, you would not need the Quick Draw feature of Dual Wielder feat.
- If you could equip/unequip once per attack, you would not need the added benefit in the Thrown property that "you can draw that weapon as part of the attack."
Side note: It specifically says you can equip/unequip as part of an attack action. NOT as part of a bonus action. So you get no free equip/unequip as part of a bonus action, even if that bonus action can be used to make an attack.
So the attack action gives you one free equip/unequip. Dual Wielder makes that two. But there is one more, on page 20 of the 2024 PHB, under Time-Limited Object Interactions. It says you get "one free interaction per turn." You can use that to open a door, pick up a gem, take a potion from a pocket, or, yes, draw or sheathe a weapon. If you use that to equip/unequip, that's three equip/unequips in a round. Can you juggle two light weapons and a non-two-handed weapon with three equips/unequips a round? Most of the time. Let's play it out with a 11th level fighter:
ROUND ONE: Start with a scimitar and a hand ax. Swing the scimitar three times and the ax once. Sheathe the ax and draw a morningstar. That's your whole attack action. Then, with your bonus action, swing the morningstar. Finally, with your "one free interaction per turn," sheathe the morningstar. You end the round holding only your scimitar.
ROUND TWO: Draw your ax. Swing the scimitar three times and the ax once. Sheathe your ax. That's your attack action. Then draw the morningstar with your free interaction. Swing it. You have used all three equip/unequips, and you end the round holding a scimtar and a morningstar.
ROUND THREE: Sheathe your morningstar. Draw your ax. Attack four times. Sheathe your ax. OOPS -- you do not have an equip left to draw your morningstar. This round you cannot get your morningstar attack. You do have a bonus action you an use for any number of other fun things, like Action Surge. Next round you are back at ROUND TWO.
There is a way to do the job, though, if you carry enough throwing weapons. See:
ROUND ONE: Start with a scimitar and an empty hand. Draw the hand ax (or dagger or other light throwing weapon). Swing the scimitar three times and THROW the ax. Draw the morningstar. Then, with your bonus action, swing the morningstar. Finally, sheathe the morningstar. You end the round holding only your scimitar.
ROUND TWO+: Repeat for as long as you have weapons to throw.
This solution gets you five attacks a round every round, but you have to worry about throwing weapons when you are in melee. The Sharpshooter feat here is your friend.
Not to mention, there's a solution is even easier. Throw all those weapons: daggers, hand axes, light hammers, and a trident as the bonus action throw! That works because the thrown weapon property lets you draw it as part of the attack.
Another side note: The extremists out there argue that you can do ALL that and use a shield at the same time. No way, I say. First of all, it is "Dual Wielding" -- by definition, you can't do that and use a shield. It is in the very definition of the fighting style. Besides, with a conservative allowance of only three equips/unequips a round, I just can't see it. Well, wait. Can you use a shield in one hand and make five throws with the other hand? I don't much like the idea, but maybe you could make a case? Up to your game master, I suppose. Personally, I think it violates the spirit of what it means to dual-wield.
