Talk:War Hulk (5e Class)

It is intentional that War Hulks use simple weapons. They use weapons like clubs, maces, great clubs, and spears. They are not trained in more complex weapons.--Dradamh (talk) 19:15, 31 October 2017 (MDT) There is no need for an extra attack. There are other abilities that are similar.--Dradamh (talk) 19:15, 31 October 2017 (MDT)

I don't agree with the idea that strength cannot be raised above 20. The Barbarian has a capstone ability that does it and their are potions and magic items that can raise scores above 20. A Belt of Giant Strength can give an ability score above 20 and would be a simple replacement for abilities.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dradamh (talk • contribs) . Please sign your posts.

Some criticism

This class is a bit simple by design, but overall I like it. The rework done by Dradamh was a great improvement (or is Dradamh the anonymous creator as well?). There are some problems I've picked out, though.

• A war hulk is clearly supposed to have pumped up Strength and Constitution, but its current state doesn't actually reward that build. Because it already has such high hit points and Constitution saves, there's less need to pump Constitution, unlike a barbarian who can at least benefit from features like Unarmored Defense. Similarly, although this class is all about smashing things and so many of its features deal with attacks, none of them actually specify they need to be Strength-based; you can do all of these things with a dagger or a rapier. Considering all this, the class unintentionally encourages a Dexterity build using finesse weapons like daggers.
• This class seems to be designed assuming a war hulk will only use or be proficient with simple weapons (presumably before a recent unchecked anonymous edit), despite the fact none of its current features restrict that. There's nothing to prevent a war hulk from being proficient with martial weapons—multiclassing, taking a feat, or even just being a dwarf are all options. Taking at least one of them seems almost mandatory; it's a huge boon for any attack-focused class, let alone one that gets double damage dice and other boons.
• Even without martial weapon proficiency, the entire Thrower subclass seems to be competing with the fact a war hulk can just hurl two handaxes instead (since they're both light), even though they aren't as cool as throwing boulders. It is only hurt by the fact it's the only one which doesn't gain an AC bonus (which itself is a powerful boon).
• The buffs definitely feel sporadic. Clearly the huge power surge comes at 7th level, when all those benefits should ideally be spread out more. Aside from that, official classes subtly get their big boons at 5th, 11th, and 17th level, which this class doesn't seem to realize. (That said, I do like Great Swing replacing Extra Attack.) This class feels underpowered and overpowered at different states of progression.
• The lower-than-20th-level Strength increases this class once had were unconventional, but I think if they were arranged better and were more effective with other features, having them again in some form would be an improvement to this class.

I'd like to try a hand at addressing these problems sometime, but I thought it best to at least detail my reasons here before running off and changing everything. Who knows, maybe someone will actually read and respond. - Guy 22:24, 7 September 2018 (MDT)

Resistant to all Damage but Psychic?

This seems like an extremely overpowered ability to give an early level character in my opinion. If anything I feel you should get resistance to non magical Bludgeoning, Slashing, and Piercing instead of essentially all damage types. Potentially the player could be allowed to select more resistances at a later level if you are dead set in keeping this, though all of them should not be gifted even in that scenario. --Spags (talk) 01:25, 8 May 2019 (MDT)

Yeah, wouldn't something like: "At third level, you gain resistance to nonmagic Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing damage. At 9th level you gain resistance to all damage except Psychic damage.", be a little more balanced? --Warred (talk) 04:18, 19 May 2019 (MDT)

Just a thought, but for the pugilist subclass. I think the unarmed strikes should add the char's strength modifyer —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kadaro (talk • contribs) . Please sign your posts.

Unarmed strikes are a melee weapon attack. If you read 5e SRD:Strength#Attack Rolls and Damage, you'll see the following rule: "You add your Strength modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a melee weapon". In other words, you already use your Strength modifier when you use the unarmed strikes provided by the class. It isn't necessary to say so outright because that's a default mechanical assumption, and it's always the case with unarmed strikes unless circumstances dictate otherwise. The world needs bullies. Remember to thank a bully today! (talk) 22:01, 1 February 2020 (MST)