Whether to use STR or DEX for your polearm attacks is an ongoing debate among gamers. Luckily, there are several resources that can help you decide which is better: the official D&D guidelines, the Polearm master feat, and racial bonuses for DEX and STR. Then, check out the tables below to learn the differences between these two stats and which will benefit your character most.
Table of Contents
STR
The Quarterstaff is a two-handed weapon, akin to an axe. Its stats are dex and STR, and it qualifies for the master feat Polearm, which grants access to the weapon based on DEX. While not a full finesse weapon, it can be useful in situations when fineness is not necessary. The Quarterstaff also doesn’t have a finesse skill, so it doesn’t qualify as a Bloghensing weapon.
The Quarterstaff has the advantage of being very versatile for casters, especially if the caster uses the Warcaster feat, which makes it an incredibly powerful weapon. Because quarterstaves can be used as a primary weapon as well as a secondary weapon, they can double up as a primary source of damage. If your character has a high enough dex score, it can even count as an arcane focus, making him even more powerful than a normal fighter.
DEX
A quarterstaff is a wooden staff that is six to nine feet long. It’s used for attack and defense and can be wielded by a monk with either DEX or STR. When used properly, a quarterstaff deals 1d4 damage to an opponent. Whether you use DEX or STR depends on what you’re trying to accomplish with the weapon. If you’re aiming for a Finesse weapon, you can use DEX instead of STR. For instance, if you’re making a bow, you’ll want to use DEX if you’re trying to achieve the Polearm Master feat.
Weapons that boost DEX are better than those made of STR. Dex players typically choose katanas and curved swords, while strength players typically go for a spear, dagger, or scythe. These weapons are designed to deal massive damage and can easily bypass a city’s defenses. Strength players, on the other hand, must invest their endurance points to pump a big hit, which decreases their weight capacity.
Polearm master feat
As a Polearm Master, you gain a +1 AC bonus while wielding a quarterstaff and a finesse blade. These weapons have an AC of 15 and they are usable by two-handed characters. When using the quarterstaff, you can stall your target’s movement without taking any damage. This can help you keep your enemies from getting within your AoE. You can even sneak attack enemies entering the AoE.
The Polearm Master feat is particularly useful for Fighters, who typically want to keep enemies in the melee. This feat allows them to use their weapon as a tool to keep enemies tangled in their melee range. In addition, it increases the range of cover that they can ignore. Once they reach that range, their damage will be increased by 10 percent. As with most of these feats, this is a strong option for melee characters.
racial bonus to DEX
If you are looking for a racial bonus to DEX in the Quarterstaff class, High Half-ElfSCAG is the best choice. This option increases the ability score of all three classes and still gives Booming Blade at first level. However, Wood Half-ElfSCAG lacks two traits as good as the other two classes, and requires trading weapon proficiencies for four skills. Although not the best choice for most characters, Wood Half-ElfSCAG has its pros and cons, and isn’t a good choice for most players.
Which stat is better for quarterstaff
If you’re wondering which stat to use to increase your quarterstaff’s damage, think again. The weapon is a strong and versatile finesse weapon. You can train it to have 1d6/d8 damage to deal with enemies with a minimum of one attack. This would be an excellent weapon to use for unarmed combat, but it would be very unbalanced compared to other finesse weapons.
The Staff of Thunder and Lightning is essentially a +2 quarterstaff, but has active abilities, including Thunderclap and Lightning Strike, which deal area damage. While the Staff of Thunder and Lightning is a bit more complicated than a +3 quarterstaff, it’s well worth the +1 bonus to attack and damage for the active abilities. Monks can also get a permanent wisdom bonus with the Tome of Understanding, but if you want to increase damage without the extra cost, the Manual of Quickness of Action is more useful.