Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Granville7482 Aug 28, 2015 4:15:44	I've always been a fan of this classic and (to some) boring race/class combination.   Using the Variant Human with Feats, I see you can start pretty strong out the gate by picking up Shield Master or Heavy Armor Master from the get-go.   But it seems when compared to the Half-Orc, Goliath, and either Dwarf eventually, due to the way ability scores increases are cashed in for Feats, the above races seem to catch up with the Variant Human and outshine them later in the game, due to having some racial perks like Stone's Endurance or the Half-Orc's version of Death Ward, better crits and Darkvision, etc.   The extra skill bump does little, because any race +  fighter can pick up Athletic and or Acrobatics+Perception+Stealth pretty darn easy due to how Backgrounds + dubling up on skill picks work.   Am I missing something or is Variant Human with sword and board a level 1 to 4 advantage character then the perks of having a bonus feat start to drop off quickly?   Am I missing a way to tweak starting attributes and ability score increases somehow to squeeze out a hidden edge?
#2 Strill Aug 28, 2015 4:51:10	For a Fighter, perhaps. Fighters do get two bonus feats. For the most part though, Variant Human is widely considered a top-tier race.
#3 Danny_Montanny Aug 28, 2015 5:04:29	I think it all depends on the shelf life of any given character. If you're playing a 17th-level one-shot, then variant Human might not even play into a good build. If you're starting a character at 1st level and know the campaign ends at 15th level, while wanting that character to be able to do a certain thing (something a feat would grant), then variant Human might be a bigger decision. You want to be able to do the cool things your character is intended for as early and long as possible, right?
#4 Elfcrusher Aug 28, 2015 5:14:35	I recently gave two players an NPC...a human sword & board fighter with Shield Master...and that feat ROCKED.  He had bad guys on the ground nearly constantly.  Initiative order mattered a lot, though...when the bad guy was right after the fighter it wasn't nearly as powerful as when the two players got their turns in first.
#5 Granville7482 Aug 28, 2015 6:20:45	Strill wrote:
#6 Yunru Aug 28, 2015 6:33:01	Actually the offenaive keys off of Athletics. Which means a Dex based Fighter with proficiency can use it just fine, especially if they have Expertise.
#7 Ahrimon Aug 28, 2015 6:35:29	The human bonus feat never looses it's potency. At 4th level when the others are picking up their first feat you are getting your second or an ability increase that keeps you ahead.
#8 Granville7482 Aug 28, 2015 6:55:02	Ahrimon wrote:
#9 Jared711 Aug 28, 2015 11:13:41	The bonus feat stays good at higher levels.  At higher levels you can get +2 HP per level for 40 HP at level 20.   For certain fighter builds this might not be the case because of all the extra feats.  You can map out all decisions and see what the difference is.  The bottom line is unless your starting the game at level 15+ a bonus feat at first level is extremely strong.  Thematically being another race is cool too though and for spell casters feats are less important.
(Reply to #7) bid	Ahrimon wrote:
#11 Granville7482 Aug 28, 2015 16:17:07	bid wrote:
#12 Vulf Aug 29, 2015 4:04:02	You could always take 2 Weapon Style and Dual Wielder to make offhand attacks with your shield. Your DM gets to decide if a shield is enough like a weapon to warrant your proficiency bonus though.