As listed above, I am recently going to be playing a melee character. And I have no idea how to do that- I've always played spellcasters, and, in my most recent PbP game, I went down in literally the second round.
So, can anyone help me learn how to play a Melee character properly?
Well melee character is a pretty broad category... Could you be a little more specific about what you are looking for?
As really general advice, I would say that if you want to be a melee character, you need to survive in melee.
Step 1 is a good armor class.
Step 2 is good defenses in general. Most melee classes have good fortitude saves, but you will need to make effort to have a good will save.
Step 3 is that you must be a threat, which generally means being able to deal damage yourself.
What classes are you considering?
Is this for PFS, a home game, or online play? (If you know what other characters you will be adventuring with, that helps a lot. Spell casters can do their own thing, martials generally require more teamwork.
What books and/or 3rd party products will you be using?
I feel like the easiest melee build is a 2hander user. It doesn't require a lot of feats, powerattack is its greatest weapon. If you're worried about fragility play a great weapon using paladin so you can use lay hands to self heal and take advantage of better than average saves.
Its a good starter character.
Focus on STR
then Con and cha bonuses of +2 minimum.
Dex of +1 or 2 depending on stats
int and wisdom about the same, though you'll want to be in a position to eventually have a 14 wisdom.
Power attack, furious focus, extra lay hands, cornugon smash, all good feats
Also not being wildly reckless is important, dont split the party is pretty key if you aren't facing things that seem like they can aoe. The temptation is always to go storming in, but thats how melee get separated from their support surrounded and beat down.
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1. Don't. There's no such thing as a melee character. You have martial classes and casters. If you play a martial, you need to have some options for when actual "melee" combat is not an option. For example, a Slayer or a Ranger can invest in Archery Style feats to get better at shooting things from a distance, while spending their regular feats to tackle enemies in melee range. Likewise. Fighters have enough extra feats to dabble in throwing or archery abilities. A Magus or an Occultist, on the other hand, can use spells and powers to shoot enemies from afar when their melee combat doesn't work.
2. Take care of your defenses. They are going to be heavily taxed. Doing damage is usually as easy as picking up Power Attack. Surviving a battle is what's going to take a larger tax of your character. If you play a Fighter, get Iron Will, get Armed Bravery. If you play a Barbarian, pump that DR to compensate for lower AC. If you play a Rogue, you need Twist Away to survive Fortitude-targeting effects. And so on.
3. Be tactical. Don't roll in and expect to win the fight because your class is meant to win fights. Use positioning, line of sight, flanking, defensive tactics and offensive tactics to your advantage. Combat maneuvers are a thing, remember them all the time -- sure, a rogue with a large sneak attack can be frightening to fight until you remember they have shit-all STR, so you can just disarm them or grapple them. Battle clerics have the same weakness. Remember that you can usually attack AC or CMD both.
4. Figure out what class you like and investigate. There're particular options that each class enjoys quite a lot. For example, a Fighter loves the Versatile Training option of Advanced Weapon Training - and you can take it as a feat at level 5! Unchained Monks make really good use of Jabbing/Dragon/Ascetic/Crane styles. Barbarians are usually improved with the Invulnerable Rager archetype. There are Ranger archetypes that can improve your job.
By the way, there are very few actual armors in the game that matter:
- Light Armor: Anything with a combined armor bonus + max DEX bonus of 8. Chain Shirts grant +4 AC with a +4 max DEX, so they are good.
- Medium Armor: Anything with a combined armor bonus + max DEX bonus of 9. Breastplates, Do-Maru and Kikko Armor are the options.
- Heavy Armor: You are looking at a combined 10. Full-plate, Tatami-Do, O-yoroi.
Wear the armor class that matches your DEX.
Wear the armor class that matches your DEX.
Great advice Secret Wizard!
Just a quick note about that last point. The Fighters Armor Training ability allows you to get more dex bonus then the armor normally would. The speed bonus is nice as well! Also, mithril, and celestial armor often acts as lighter armor in some ways, but perhaps not others.
Thank you murderhobo god rat.
I feel like the easiest melee build is a 2hander user. It doesn't require a lot of feats, powerattack is its greatest weapon. If you're worried about fragility play a great weapon using paladin so you can use lay hands to self heal and take advantage of better than average saves.
Its a good starter character.
Focus on STR
then Con and cha bonuses of +2 minimum.Dex of +1 or 2 depending on stats
int and wisdom about the same, though you'll want to be in a position to eventually have a 14 wisdom.Power attack, furious focus, extra lay hands, cornugon smash, all good feats
why would a paladin need a 14 wisdom?
Agreed with Chess PWN.
Actually, I've been recommending new players to use a Tempered Champion archetype Paladin.
It's a good combination of defense and offense with some out of combat utility, and they don't have to worry about spells.
They are much easier to build that Fighters.
Give looks into Fighter Advanced Weapon Trainings as Fighter has gotten a decent buff recently around level 5. Focus on what you want to be for your party as the martial character. Tank/Tanky DPS/or straight damage. Power Attack or Combat Expertise is needed, though I wouldn't recommend both unless you wanna be ballsy. Vanilla Fighter is always good for your very first melee as it allows you to toy with what you like and swap out if you change your mind since they rely mostly on feats and its easy to swap feats out and retrain the rest later. Give it your best shot.
Actually, Light Armor has a true MAX DEX of +8 with a Darkleaf Cloth Leather armor (+2 AC, +8 MAX DEX).
Anything above +8 DEX might as well use a regular Haramaki.
why would a paladin need a 14 wisdom?I feel like the easiest melee build is a 2hander user. It doesn't require a lot of feats, powerattack is its greatest weapon. If you're worried about fragility play a great weapon using paladin so you can use lay hands to self heal and take advantage of better than average saves.
Its a good starter character.
Focus on STR
then Con and cha bonuses of +2 minimum.Dex of +1 or 2 depending on stats
int and wisdom about the same, though you'll want to be in a position to eventually have a 14 wisdom.Power attack, furious focus, extra lay hands, cornugon smash, all good feats
So you can eventually cast all your spells. I should have specified it could come from an item
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I was curious if that was going to be your answer.
Paladin spells are based off of charisma. Paladins don't use wisdom anymore for anything but skills and save.
As listed above, I am recently going to be playing a melee character. And I have no idea how to do that- I've always played spellcasters, and, in my most recent PbP game, I went down in literally the second round.
So, can anyone help me learn how to play a Melee character properly?
Compared to your spellcasters, it's just going to be difficult to have the same relative level of success.
1. Plan out your build. Spellcasters can get away without having a planned 1-20 build. Martials do not.
2. Optimize your stats. Having a high mental stat that does not relate to your abilities will hurt you. Fighters may want higher wis, but you could also just not be a fighter.
3. Watch Your Flanks. In general watch your positioning. Try not to get surrounded, always have an escape plan. Do not leave yourself open to attacks from all sides. Make use of 5ft steps to prevent flanks.
4. Pump AC and Saves. Get the big six magic items. Find a way to get those or your character will just stop working.
5. Do not build for combat maneuvers. The math is against you on this one. You'll only really be able to use combat maneuvers against foes that don't pose too much of a threat against you. At which point you would rather do damage. Certain builds can do one or two maneuvers well. That is not the same thing as being good.
6. Thou shall always have a range option. Do not forget this even as you are working on your melee ability.
If you are allowed to use Advanced Race Guide classes it really is worth taking a level or six of Brawler. Martial flexibility is an awesome class ability that will give you some of the flexibility back from another class. If you are thinking of playing a fighter I really see little downside as the fighter levels provide armour and weapon proficiency while the brawler gives you almost as many feats, martial flexibility and some good fist fighting abilities for tavern brawls and such. The only downside is that if you wear medium armour or heavier you lose the +1 dodge bonus to AC but if you mix it with a Barbarian or Ranger that shouldn't be a problem.
So you can eventually cast all your spells. I should have specified it could come from an item
Yeah,sorry, pathfinder paladins have been casting with charisma since the core book. Between that, divine grace, the good will save, and all the immunities to mind-affecting effects paladins eventually get, wisdom is probably the least important stat on a PF paladin.
Anyway, I think that as long as the character can last long enough in a fight (with a good combination of HP, AC and saves), output solid damage and have a backup option if their main attack mode gets shut down (i.e. some skill with a ranged weapon against a flying enemy, decent damage for a maneuver specialist against a resistant foe, etc) you will do okay. OP, do you have a particular style or rather flavor you want the character to have - i.e. a heavily armored juggernaut, a devastating berserker, an acrobatic swashbuckler, a master of a certain weapon, etc?
Yknow I knew that and for some reason it continually blanks my mind when i think about the class. Too long in 3.0/3.5 most likely
It might also be handy to give yourself some benchmarks to shoot for. I'm running a switch-hitter Halfling warpriest with a Halfling sling-staff. This means he wants to be competent from both range and melee.
My GM runs very generic, vanilla encounters. This means I can usually plan around the Monster Statistics by CR chart. I try and shoot for having a bonus to attack that, if I roll a 10 on my D20 I can still hit the average AC. If I hit, I want to be able to deal 1/4 of the average HP for a monster with a CR = to my current level.
Right now I'm level 4. This means I built my character around having a bonus to attack from melee and range of at least +7 to hit and I want to be able to deal approximately 10 damage per hit.
Now with my particular build I have an Animal Companion, a wolf Sacred Mount. I factor his attack into mine for my total damage in a round. I've built well enough that under optimal situations we both have at least a +7 or better attack bonus and my sling-staff deals 1d6 +2 (average 5.5 damage) in melee. My wolf on the other hand with his +7 bite attack delivers 1d6 +3 (average 6.5 damage) in melee.
This covers me for the benchmarks for a CR 4 monster. Hopefully this helps a little.
As said many times, always have a ranged option. We finally browbeat that into our cleric, and it paid off for him. My barbarian, conversely, has her bow, and even if something comes up in melee, a few chakrams to wing at unsuspecting enemies without dropping her greataxe.
Aside from that, again, tactics are key. Flanking hurts. And don't forget your own combat manoeuvres. They might not always be best, but sometimes they are. Imagine a narrow corridor, where things are lined up as enemy, barbarian, rogue. Not ideal. But if Barbie decides she'll Overrun the enemy ... well, then things get interesting.
That said, you're going to be relying a lot on die rolls, more so than you really did as a caster. You'll just have to cope with that, tho.
Lots of great advice in here, but one small note regarding a comment in the OP: melee characters are the most RNG-prone characters in the game. While defenses are vitally important to invest in, especially in the first couple levels its very easy to get dropped by sheer dumb luck. A trio of orc warriors with falchions is considered a pretty standard encounter for a level 1 party but if just one of those rolls an 18 then that could instantly kill almost anyone. Going down in the 2nd round as a level 1 character isn't indicative of anything other than bad rolls.
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Can be good to have someone else who know the game take a look at the character sheet before playing.
I recall feeling underpowered playing my Inquisitor(first character) in pfs. Looking back at the character sheet it isn't that odd, since apparently I hadn't add any str modifier to the attack dmg, only to the attack roll.