[RPG] Does this low-Str/low-Dex idea for a Fighter work out

ability-scorescharacter-creationdnd-5efighter

I've been playing around with the idea for a new character, but I'm curious whether I'm going to run into unforeseen problems at later levels. The idea is to take a Variant Human Fighter and pick up the Magic Initiate feat at first level to get access to shillelagh.

I'm going to dump both Str and Dex, and pump up my Wis and make attacks with that. The idea will be to fight with a heavy stick. I'll pick up the Battle Master fighter archetype, which has enough maneuvers that don't require a saving throw to be worthwhile.

The basic background is that the character is a soldier who got nearly killed and is basically physically crippled, but was rescued and trained as a Druid with an Elven teacher. He'll be druid-like flavorwise, but with an emphasis still on melee combat, using his understanding of and bond with nature to pull him through where his body couldn't.

The only things I've found that are going to hold back this character are that he'll be too weak to wear his armor without a speed penalty (so I'll be slow), at least unless I'm able to pick up Mithral armor and that his Battle Master saves depend on his dumped abilities, but there's enough of them that I can just not pick the ones that have a saving throw.

I wasn't planning to multiclass anyway, but I won't be allowed to with these stats even if I wanted to, so that's not an option. This needs to be a pure Fighter.

However, while I'm pretty sure this'll be fine at the first few levels, I'm curious if I'll run into trouble at later levels when playing him. It'd suck to realize that at some level, the idea suddenly doesn't work anymore and I can't advance any further.

Is there any reason why this low-Str, low-Dex Fighter would be impossible to play at a certain level?

Best Answer

You should be able to play this

It is in no way optimal, but it's certainly possible to play this kind of character, and it will provide you with great roleplaying opportunities. A crippled fighter who uses what little Druidic magic he knows to get by where his physical form can no longer help is a great concept.

As you've already determined, having a low strength and a low dex, you are stuck with having terrible AC unless you wear heavy armor, which has a strength requirement unless it's a mithral armor. You will be able to use a shield alongside a club (heavy stick) for a bonus +2 AC, which means you'll be a fairly tanky character if you don't dump-stat your con as well for the theme.

You will also need to use your bonus action every minute to cast Shillelagh or you'll struggle to hit anything, but once you've done that, you're essentially just using a one-handed longsword, which is a perfectly viable build. You'll be weak to dispell magic and anti-magic zones, but in all honesty, if somebody is going to cast that to dispell your cantrip, they've wasted a spellslot.

For your once per day spell from Magic Initiate, you might consider Absorb Elements. Because you'll be dump-statting your dexterity, there's a decent chance you're going to fail dexterity saves as you are not proficient in those, and a well-timed Absorb Elements might well save you 10+ damage from a spell.

For your other cantrip options besides Shillelagh, you might want some way to 'close distance' or attack from a range, for those situations where your movement (especially when you're slowed down by armor) can't get you near enough to the enemy. With a decent wisdom modifier, your Thorn Whip would allow you pull enemies closer reasonably well. Gust might be useful to push enemies over edges from a distance or push unattended weapons around, allowing you to be more useful from a range than your slow speed would normally allow.

So in conclusion, is this going to be the strongest character at your table? Almost certainly not.

Is it going to be unplayable? I don't think so. I think that once you find Mithral Armor or find some other way to get a decent AC, your character will be perfectly viable in anything but a heavily min/maxed environment.