As we have seen, casters vastly out class martials in combat, utility, and some roleplay. A caster has much higher damage, can fix many more situations much easier, and has the capabilities to get out of some pretty wacky scenarios. All of this with base abilities, not even taking into consideration multiclassing, magic items, and specific race choices. All of which are often needed by martials to keep up. So, is there a solution? Well, as a matter of fact there is.
Leading by Example
There is one martial class that I think is a huge step in the direction of where the archetype should go. Though it is not technically official content, most of the community considers it as such. The Blood Hunter class, written by Matt Mercer.
This class is has almost everything a martial could ever want: several base class abilities that boost damage and saving throws, multiple utility effects, and an aesthetic that can truly open up some great roleplay opportunities. It is such an all-rounder class, I think it should be an example for future releases. Mainly, future subclasses or optional class features should be written that grant effects in a similar vein.
Now, it is not a perfect fix, as spells will likely always be vastly more powerful at the highest levels, but we can still try to make martial classes more worthwhile. When I write homebrew martial classes, I go in with the assumption that there is nothing besides non-magical base gear. By doing so, my games have felt a lot more balanced during play testing. The martial classes feel relatively on par with the casters and my players seem to be having a lot more fun.
What Does It All Mean?
Despite this sounding a bit like a rant, I still love D&D. I love every second of it no matter what class I am playing. Wizards of the Coast has something truly great here, and I am so glad to see it rising in popularity, because D&D is a special kind of game that brings people together like no other. This is just a critique I have. All I can do now is wait ever intently on the release of new fantastic content, and hope that maybe the points I have made here will make their way to the Forgotten Realms.
Thumbnail: health_bar from flickr.com
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