Now that the new Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Players Handbook is out, DMs and players are evaluating the various shifts to the game’s balance and rule changes, but one thing is clear – martial characters are, broadly speaking, weaker than ever, relative to full spellcasting classes. There are a few exceptions, like high-level Fighters and Barbarian who rely on two-handed heavy weapons, and certain Rogue builds. In all other cases, martial characters contribute less than ever in D&D. The loss of the 2014 5e Sharpshooter's “damage gamble” feature is the most significant change, elevating spellcasters’ combat superiority.

The martial-caster divide was a concept that emerged from the analysis of 3e Dungeons & Dragons. This was not present in the 4e system, and the 2014 5e rules minimized this divide, but it has returned in full force with the 2024 D&D revisions.

Other baffling rule changes also muddy the waters. 2014 D&D’s ranged Fighter-Rogue multiclass characters could deliver devastating damage from up to 120 feet by pairing Crossbow Expert with Sharpshooter, and single-classed Fighters were even more damaging at higher levels, especially on rounds where they would apply Action Surge. The new Crossbow Expert feat stretches credibility, as it no longer requires a free hand to reload crossbows, and it converts a Bonus Action attack that could trigger while wielding a single-hand crossbow to one that requires two-weapon fighting. Hand crossbow builds require more magic weapons to function as they formerly did.

Ranged D&D Martial Characters Kept Pace With Casters

The Weakened Sharpshooter Feat Leaves Martial Ranged Damage Mediocre At Best

The 2024 D&D PHB fixed Beastmaster Rangers to a degree, but the class as a whole suffers due to the lessened damage from ranged martial weapons. In the 2014 rules, Sharpshooter allowed a ranged weapon to take -5 to hit to add +10 to damage. The Archery Fighting Style provided a +2 to hit, which helped offset this penalty, and spells like Faerie Fire provided reliable sources of Advantage. Sharpshooter has lost this “damage gamble” feature and ranged characters now suffer for it. Most spells work at range. High damage-dealing martial characters using ranged weapons provided parity with spellcasters.

Specific martial classes have also become obsolete under the new rules. Those ranking 2024 D&D Paladin smite spells will note that Divine Smite is now a spell, rather than a class feature for Paladins. The spell requires a Bonus Action, which means Smite has been significantly weakened. Before, Smite could trigger off of any melee attack, including an Opportunity Attack, an Extra Attack added to the Attack Action, or a Bonus Action Attack like the one granted through Polearm Master. Limiting smite to once per round by making it a Bonus Action spell significantly lowers the Paladin class’ combat effectiveness.

A small portion of the fanbase felt the 2014 5e D&D Monk was overpowered due to its ability to deliver multiple Stunning Strike attempts per turn, but this analysis showed a lack of understanding of game balance. That was the central contribution of the Monk, a class that could never keep up with Fighters and Barbarians in of raw damage output. It allowed them to act as a highly mobile class focused on limiting enemy actions. Many monsters have high Constitution saves, and the ability to force multiple saving throws helped circumvent this. Contrarily, 2024’s Monk is terrible.

2024 D&D Paladins & Monks Are Sadly Ineffective

Changes To Both Classes Took Away Their Most Effective Tactics From 2014 D&D

Some look to the higher damage dice for unarmed strikes, or the halved speed and Advantage on an attack when the enemy succeeds on a save against Stunning Strike, as gains for the Monk. These do little to offset the loss of “one stun attempt per hit” the 2014 Monk benefited from. The higher damage die is of minimal impact, and none of the effects of a successful save against Stunning Strike match the Stun condition, which takes an enemy’s actions away. Stunning Strike is now limited to once per turn, which is still better than 2024 D&D's Divine Smite.

With the loss of the best D&D bow builds for archer characters, and the Monk and Paladin being rendered “trap choices,” there are still a few other archetypes to address. Melee-focused Fighters and Barbarians may still come out comparable to their 2014 iterations, depending on the level of play and their fighting style. The new Great Weapon Master feat does add Proficiency Bonus to damage, and it does not penalize accuracy like its 2014 counterpart. However, it limits this feature to attacks made as part of the Attack Action. This limitation narrows the number of truly effective D&D melee builds.

The benefits of Weapon Mastery are sometimes brought up in defense of 2024 D&D design choices, but these situational benefits don't do enough to offset the loss of reliable and repeatable single-target damage, and dealing high damage was the most vital role for 2014 martial characters.

Attacks made with a Reaction, like an Opportunity Attack, do not benefit from the 2024 Great Weapon Master damage boost feature, or attacks made as a Bonus Action, like the attack gained from the Polearm Master feat. The mathematical benefits of adding Proficiency Bonus to damage without an accuracy penalty, compared to a +10 to damage for a -5 to hit, are certainly comparable, but there are fewer builds that can truly take advantage of this. Pure Fighters who rely on heavy weapons, and Barbarians who have other uses for their Bonus Action, may benefit. Most martial characters lose more.

D&D Rogues Benefit, But Most Martial Classes Suffer

Martial Characters Are No Longer Competitive With Spellcasters In The Revised Rules

Some felt that Dexterity was D&D’s most overpowered stat, and fans who are not concerned with overall game balance might see the diminished Sharpshooter feat as a good thing, bringing some parity between ranged and melee-focused martial characters. Such an analysis entirely ignores parity between spellcasters and martial characters. Giving Sharpshooter a “damage gamble” feature and giving Heavy Weapons a penalty-free damage boost could have provided balance between martial styles without making spellcasters overpowered, relative to martials. Instead, we have a return to the 3e-era’s gap between dominant spellcasting classes and far less useful martial characters. This was entirely avoidable.

The Rogue class is one martial that has benefited from the new rules without losing much. Due to the way D&D Rogue Sneak Attack works, Rogues were less likely to regularly use the "damage gamble" portion of Sharpshooter since Sneak Attack is their primary damage source. Sneak Attack is still limited to once per turn, so nothing has changed there from 2014. Spellcasters have lost very little, outside of a revised rule on “leveled” spells cast per turn, and many spells have actually increased in power from 2014’s version. Martial characters, as a whole, have lost far more than spellcasters.

It is debatable whether there was truly a martial-caster divide in the 2014 D&D rules since well-built martial characters could deliver unmatched damage quite reliably, without consuming daily resources to do so. Spellcasters could still reshape reality, and spells offered more utility outside of battle. If there was no martial-caster divide, there is one now, and if it existed in the 2014 rules, it has widened immensely. The loss of competitive ranged weapon damage, the badly weakened Paladin and Monk, and the narrower approach to viable melee builds, adds up to a terrible shift for Dungeons & Dragons martial characters.

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