D&D: Five Amazing Feats for Melee Characters
So you’re wanting to get in there and hit stuff with your sword? Well these five feats will make you even better at it. Axes and hammers too.
Melee characters are among the bread and butter of D&D. And a big reason for this is that they’re the bread and butter of fantasy stories in general. Sure, there are plenty of stories, even whole series about wizards going around wizarding it up. And magic users are where it’s at. But there’s just something appealing about a person with a sword (or whatever) and mighty thews getting in there and mixing it up.
Mechanically speaking, melee attack options feel pretty satisfying too. You fulfill the fantasy of being that mythic hero. Or at least of giving the enemies something shiny and angry to worry about instead of going for the squishier members of the party.
Whatever the reason, if you’re playing a melee character, here are five D&D feats that are sure to make every fight feel fun.
Great Weapon Master
This is one of the all time greats of 5E. It’ll be sad when it is changed in 5.5E. Great Weapon Master is a Feat that, in the olden days of 3.x Edition, was better known as power attack. The concept is simple. You trade in some of your to hit bonus for a bonus to damage instead.
And with Great Weapon Master that still holds true. Only it exclusively works for heavy weapons, but you take a -5 to hit in exchange for a +10 to damage. And if you get a critical hit or reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you can make a melee attack as a bonus action.
This is the bread and butter of most melee characters, and we’d be remiss to leave it off. But this is only a part of the iceberg.
Crusher
This feat applies to people who prefer to deal bludgeoning damage. So if you’re swinging around a greatsword you might want to trade it in for a maul. Why? Because Crusher gives you the ability to push a creature 5 feet when you hit it. Which is a fantastic way of manipulating the fight. Shove them off a cliff. Or into a pit.
Sure you can pick up something like Slasher which slows targets you hit, or Piercer which lets you reroll one of your damage dice. But Crusher just has that good feat mouthfeel.
Squire of Solamnia
This one you may have to talk to your DM about, since it’s intended for the Dragonlance campaign module. But there’s no reason this couldn’t apply to any other campaign setting with knightly orders. And it’s a very good feat too.
First of all, it lets you mount or dismount for only five feet of movement. But secondly, you can make an attack have advantage once per turn, no action/bonus action required, and if that attack hits, you add an extra d8 damage. You can do that up to your proficiency bonus times per day, and it’s a great addition to something like a Battlemaster’s Maneuvers.
Martial Adept
This feat is a fantastic one for melee characters of any class. But especially if you have a starting feat, this feat is a great way to represent any martial training your character might have. With this feat, you get two Battle Master maneuvers, which you can then use once per rest. This is a handy way to give yourself an extra little edge to rely on. Is it the most optimal? No, but sometimes it’s about the flavor. And it’s not a bad option even so.
Sentinel
Finally, a defensive feat. This one is a fantastic feat to pick up to make your DM have to pay extra attention to where your character is at all times.
Sentinel does a number of things, starting with: when you hit a creature with an attack of opportunity, their speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn. They stop dead in their tracks. No save. No flight. Sure, a creature could technically still teleport, but that’s not something you run into every day.
Second, a creature always provokes opportunity attacks, even if they take the Disengage action. Handy way to make sure no one just ignores you. And finally, when a creature within 5 feet of you attacks a target other than you (who also doesn’t have Sentinel) you can attack them as a reaction.
All amazing options that make your character a fantastic melee defender.
What are your favorite melee feats?
