D&D: Five Feats For Mixing It Up in Melee
Want to hit things in D&D? There are plenty of ways to do exactly that, and these five melee feats might help.
Melee combat is a big part of D&D. The hero with flashing swords, the cunning thief with a dagger in the dark—these are iconic moments from fantasy stories as well. Little wonder then, that there are plenty of ways to play a close-combatant in D&D.
And one of the ways you can really tweak what you focus on is by picking the right feats. They can turn a humble Fighter into a master of the sword and shield, or two handed greataxe, or anything else. But it’s not just Fighters who can benefit from melee feats. Anyone who fights with a weapon might find one of these useful.
Great Weapon Master
This was a good feat in 5th Edition, and remains a good feat in 5.5E, though it’s not quite as “auto-include” as it otherwise might have been. It’s still very potent though. If you are wielding a weapon that has the Heavy property, that is.
When you hit a creature with such a weapon on your turn, you can deal your Proficiency Bonus in extra damage. And if you score a Critical Hit or drop a creature to 0 hit points, you can make an extra attack as a Bonus Action. Extra damage, potential extra attacks, and you get to increase your Strength by 1. It’s all upsides.
Charger
Charger is an example of how a feat can change your playstyle. With Charger, you can increase your speed by 10 whenever you Dash, making it particularly of use to someone like a Rogue or Monk, who can Dash as a Bonus Action. And then, if you move at least 10 feet “in a straight line” towards a target, which is extremely easy to do since it’s two squares on a grid system, you can add 1d8 bonus damage to your attack, or can push the target up to 10 feet away, your choice.
You only get the benefit once on each turn, and it’s typically hard to move and attack as a reaction, but even so, the benefit, plus an increase to Strength or Dexterity makes it a fun option for the mobile combatant.
Mage Slayer
Mage Slayer is great for anyone fighting mages, monsters, and especially magical monsters. It is both offensive and defensive in nature. In addition to increasing your Strength or Dexterity, when you hit a creature concentrating on something, a spell or other effect, it has Disadvantage on its saving throw, making it more likely that you’ll disrupt them.
On the defensive side, you’ll gain Guarded Mind, which lets you choose to succeed on an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw instead of failing it, once per Rest.
Defensive Duelist
This is for all the parry enthusiasts out there. Defensive Duelist, as the name implies, works only when wielding a Finesse weapon. With this feat, you increase your Dexterity and gain the ability to add your Proficiency Bonus to your AC as a Reaction whenever you’re hit by a melee attack. You gain the AC bonus until the start of your next turn.
This can be fun when paired with something like a College of Swords Bard’s Defensive Flourish, making it even less likely that you’ll get hit. Or as another source of defensive reactions for a Battlemaster Fighter who has run out of Battlemaster Dice.
Shield Master
Then we have an improved Shield Master. This Feat lets you increase your Strength, but the real meat and potatoes of it is making you feel like your Shield does more than just add +2 to your AC. Because with this feat, you can suddenly make a Bash as part of an Attack action, which can either push a target back or knock it prone.
And you can Interpose your shield whenever you have to make a Dexterity saving throw to take half damage from a spell like fireball, or an effect like a dragon’s breath weapon. If you spend your Reaction and succeed on the saving throw, you take no damage instead. Heroic!
What are your favorite melee feats?
