The Champion subclass has a bit of a tarnished reputation in the world of Dungeons and Dragons. It’s the simplest subclass for the Fighter 5e, who already has the fewest decision points of all the DnD classes. Players who love to tinker with optimized builds often call the Champion boring, but that label does a disservice to the pure power of the subclass. Yes, hitting enemies and dealing lots of damage can get repetitive, but when you’re that good at it, who cares?
This build guide is dedicated to celebrating the simplicity of the Champion. Sometimes, we don’t need complexity to maximize on fun.
The concept
We’re really going to lean into the Champion’s reputation here and create the most boring character possible. It won’t be a boring character to play, but in every other respect, this will be the dullest guy in the tavern. John Smith, the Human Fighter, with an unremarkable background but the potential to deal ludicrous damage in a fight.
Multiclassing
In keeping with our ‘boring’ concept, we’re going to build a pure Champion from level one to level 20. However, I want to point out that this is a subclass with plenty of multiclass potential. In fact, now that all subclasses are chosen at level three, I think this is one of the better multiclassing ‘dips’ in the 2024 rules.
Fighters get an awful lot of useful freebies at early levels, such as Weapon Mastery and Action Surge. Throw a Champion subclass dip in at level three, and you’ve got advantage on Initiative Rolls and an increased chance of landing critical hits with weapons. That’s useful for pretty much any gish or martial that’s prepared to lose a few levels of their core class.
Starting stats
Level: One
We’re going all in on physical might, so here’s the stats we’d roll with Points Buy:
- Strength – 15
- Dexterity – 15
- Constitution – 14
- Intelligence – 8
- Wisdom – 10
- Charisma – 8
My plan is to focus on Finesse weapons that give us the Vex weapon mastery so we can farm for critical hits. However, we’ll still need a decent Strength score if we want to wear heavy armor.
Starting proficiencies
Level: One
We’re not going to be focusing on skills too much, but Persuasion and Acrobatics are safe choices.
Species and background
Level: One
When all we had to work with was The Player’s Handbook, Wayfarer was the obvious background choice for a Champion. It boosts your Dexterity, and it grants you the Lucky feat, which is crucial for crit-fishing. However, we’ve had a year of new books by this point, and there’s now a better option on the market.
Meet Mulhorandi Tomb Raider. It’s found in the Heroes of Faerûn sourcebook, so your DM might veto it if you’re not playing a game set in the Forgotten Realms. If you are (or your DM simply doesn’t care), I’d seriously recommend it. We can boost our Dexterity and our Constitution (taking us to 16 for both), and we get access to Lucky. It offers worse skill proficiencies than Wayfarer, but skills were never going to be a big focus for our Fighter.
As for DnD races, there are two clear winners to choose between. If you don’t mind mixing the 2014 and the 2024 rules, there’s a strong case for playing an Elf. This means you can pick up the Elven Accuracy feat later on, which is frankly ridiculous when you’re aiming to land lots of critical hits.
If you prefer to stick to the newest rules only, a Human is your best bet, as it gives a regular source of Inspiration (yay, more crit-fishing!) as well as an extra Origin feat. I’m opting for a Human Champion, as it sounds the most boring, too.
I’ll pick up Stealth as a proficiency (to try and counteract the disadvantage heavy armor will give me later) and Savage Attacker as my Origin feat. Musician would be a good alternative, but I think we have more than enough sources of rerolls for now. I want to make sure I’m dealing big damage once I actually hit.
Equipment
Level: One
Ignore the recommended starting equipment for a Fighter. Instead, invest your cash in a rapier, a shield, some chain mail, a hand crossbow, and a dungeoneer’s pack. That covers all forms of combat, and it should leave you some pocket change at the end.
Fighting Style
Level: One
Dueling is the runaway winner of this contest, giving our Rapier a touch more damage while we’re fighting with sword and board.
Weapon Mastery
Level: One
We’ll take weapon mastery in our initial weapons, the rapier and the hand crossbow. As we level, we can expand our weapon mastery repertoire from Vex. It wouldn’t hurt to take a mastery in a weapon with the Sap property at later levels, but this isn’t a high priority.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: Four
The first of our many, many ASIs should be Piercer. We can increase our Dexterity to 17, and the damage for both our Rapier and Hand Crossbow get significantly better.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: Six
Next, let’s pick up Crossbow Expert. Our Dexterity is now 18, we can fire our Hand Crossbow in melee if we want to, and we can wield our shield without worrying about the crossbow’s Loading property.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: Eight
Sentinel puts another point in our Dexterity score, and it makes it easier for our Champion to take opportunity attacks. More chances to attack mean more chances to crit and more chances to deal tasty damage.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: 12
To round off our Dexterity, take Resilient and become proficient in Dexterity saving throws. We’ve now maxed our attack stat, and we’re well-defended against AoE spells.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: 14
By now, we have all the tools we need to strike fear – and lots of piercing damage – into the hearts of our enemies. All other feats are just bonus material. At this point, I’d either go for a flat +2 to your Constitution to ensure survivability, or take the Musician feat we ignored before to make sure we have Heroic Inspiration all the damn time.
Ability Score Improvement
Level: 16
Whichever of the last two you ignored, take it now.
Epic Boon
Level: 19
Boon of Irresistible Offense is the safe choice here. Our piercing damage no longer gives a damn about resistance. Plus, if we can roll that coveted 20 on an attack roll, we can deal 21 extra damage. Thanks, high Dexterity score!
Want to share details about your own Champion build? Join us for a chat in the Wargamer Discord.