Are you tired of running out of ammo? Does it bother you when enemies are too far and can easily run away from the fight? Well, say goodbye to your problems. With melee combat, you can stay close to your opponent, hit them in the face, grapple them, use opportunity attacks and more!
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And there are many ways to go about it here inDungeons & Dragons,so it still depends on the type of build you want to create with your character. Let’s see our options, and then you can choose the one that better fits your character idea and beat all the losers your DM puts in front of you.
5What Is Your Role?
‘Melee’ is a very vague thing. Most people will likely think of a character responsible for causing a lot of damage in close range, but there are many classes and builds there are ‘melee.’
A tank, for example, is often a melee character because being close to your enemies is a more efficient way to absorb damage and control the fight.
Supports have the occasional spell that requires touching, thus justifying being among everyone else, but they shine better in range. Still,deciding what roleyou wish to serve your group is the first big step here, then you need to determine how you’ll go about it.
It’s also important to think about spells. You can be a martial character, who doesn’t rely on any type of spells or cantrips, but many classes can mix spells into their melee combat with no issues.
4Weapons
Assuming you’ll go for a DPS role, there are a few weapon choices for what type of damage you’ll cause and what fighting style you wish to have. You can wield heavy weapons, two weapons at once, or a weapon and a shield, making a sort of Off-Tank to the group - though that’s probably the same setup the Tank will use.
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Each weapon type will demand its prerequisites, such as proficiencies and ability scores, and some classes will favor certain weapons more than others. Strength will be your best friend if you wish to make a big character with heavy armor and a gigantic weapon.
However, an agile character with multiple weapons who hits many times in a turn will have dexterity as a way to back them up.
you’re able to use dexterity for melee combat if your weapon has the finesse property, allowing you to use either strength or dexterity for the attack. The best option here would be the rapier, whose damage die is a d8. If you’re using strength, longswords, battleaxes, and warhammers are the best option if you want a free hand for your shield, spellcasting, or whatever you wish to do.
Finally, heavy weapons will also demand strength, and you can use Polearm weapons, which come with neat tricks, or weapons such as the greataxe or greatsword, which causes a d12 and 2d6 damage, respectively.
3Classes
There are many classes to choose from, which is why we asked about your weapon style first to narrow things down a bit. Some classes are a bit strict; For example, using strength for a monk is not worth it because all their features revolve around attacking with dexterity, and Rogues suffer a similar fate.
Then you have Barbarians, who favor strength - you can use dexterity here, and there are functional builds around it, mostly through multiclassing, but you’ll miss some features, such as all the bonuses that come with Rage.
However, some classes are a joker in this aspect.A Fighteror a Paladin can use any of the weapon options we’ve mentioned.
They can even be ranged, but that’s not our current focus. So you would have more freedom when building your character if you picked these classes, and you could even carry multiple weapon options and adapt to each fight’s necessities.
You also have some unorthodox melee classes that use different ability scores. For example, a Hexblade Warlock is a menace on the battlefield, and they attack using Charisma, as they use their innate spellcasting prowess to help them out in melee combat, and they have spells in their arsenal, too.
Druids can use Shillelagh on their staff to use their Wisdom score for the attacks, being good melees without relying on strength and dexterity. They can also turn into many different animals, and they’re all effective melee options, too.
Consider Barbarians, some Clerics (depending on the subclass), and even Rangers for heavy weapons. For finesse weapons, you can consider the previous entries, too, depending on your build, but you can also consider Rogues or Monks.
The last two can’t use shields (though Rogues can get them through feats), but all these options would also function well with a one-handed weapon and a shield. And, as mentioned before, Fighters and Paladins can function with any of these options with ease.
2Feats
You can spice up combat even more with a few feats you can get for your character. Martial classes (the ones with zero to little magic) usually have the opportunity to get more feats, too.
Fighters get more than anyone else, and you can use Variant Human to get an extra feat regardless of your class. Or you can improve your strength or dexterity even more, which is always welcome.
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Great Weapon Mastery is a big one for heavy weapons, giving you extra attacks whenever you roll a natural 20 or zero in someone’s health bar. In case you’re using a Polearm weapon, the Polearm Master will also let you make an extra attack with your bonus action, and you can combo this feat with Sentinel to hit people with your opportunity attacks from 10ft (3m) away and stop them from moving.
Finesse weapons can get feats such as Defensive Duelist, Dual-Wielder to wield two rapiers, or the aforementioned Sentinel, which is just good for everybody. Elves and Half-Elves can also take advantage of Elven Accuracy, which works when attacking with Dexterity, Wisdom, Charisma, or Intelligence (but not strength).
Some feats are suitable for anyone, such as Mage Slayer, which will help overpower enemy spellcasters.
Tanks can get Shield Master, mastery for their armor type, or Tough to increase their overall health. You could even get Magic Initiate so you can attack with Booming Blade or make a Cleric that can also cast Shillelagh and melee attack with their Wisdom.
1Dealing With Ranged Opponents
Whether you like it or not, your DM will probably put ranged enemies to fight you. In fact, if they want to increase the challenge, they’ll put ranged enemies far from you in advantageous positions and attack you from there.
So, you need to find a way to deal with ranged combat scenarios.
If you went for the finesse route, then the solution is easy: Just have a ranged weapon as a backup. A bow, crossbow, or whatever weapon your character has proficiency in.
A Rogue should have one of those, for example, and Fighters and Paladins who use dexterity will excel with these weapons, too, because they get proficiency. Some Cleric subclasses would fit here too, but they can use spells to attack from afar, which leads to another solution.
Half-casters or the likes of aHexblade Warlockcan simply rely on spells to attack from afar - nothing like an Eldritch Blast to save the day (Paladins can get it too through Magic Initiate since they also use Charisma for spells).
Monks tend to have an easier time here, too; They don’t have many ranged options, but they have the highest movement of any class and will eventually be able to run through walls. You can easily reach anyone here (if you want to piss off your DM, make a Tabaxi Monk so you can combine Feline Agility with the Monk’s movement).
Characters with heavy weapons, who rely on strength, will have to get a bit more creative. You’ll need to find a way to get close as the turns go without dying along the way.
Still, you’re able to have weapons with the thrown property as backup, so you can throw them (as the name implies) using your strength score - as the Handaxes Barbarians get with their basic gear.
