History ComplacentGamingSyndrome / DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition

* If a group has a Bard, expect for that Bard to be a Half-Elf most of the time. This is because Half-Elves get a flat +2 to their Charisma modifiers and the ability to put a single point in any two stats, all while gaining two free skills, two starting languages, in addition to getting to pick a third, and advantage on being charmed, all of which doesn't even account for Backgrounds. This makes them the best race option since those extra two stat points can be put in the stat that they will need depending on their sub-class, which combined with the Bard's natural ability to help stop Charms and gain skills, allows them to practically be good at everything they need to be. To a lesser extent, Tiefling Bards are also common for also getting +2 to Charisma and a few free spells or a flying speed, but they are favored more if they are playing a solely magic-focused Bard.

Additionally, while Gift of the Ever-Living Ones and Investment of the Chain Master, along with the already useful scouting option Voice of the Chain Master, did improve the Pact of the Chain significantly, they have to also compete with the ''new Pact of the Tome'' Invocations that came with them. Not only can Pact of the Tome Warlocks get all ritual spells and new cantrips, ''Xanathar's Guide to Everything'' gave them Aspect of the Moon, which gives a Tome-bearing Warlock the ''best'' possible gift for camping and resting in the wild ''and'' grants them immunity to sleep effects, and ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'' gave them the ''gamechanging'' Far Scribe Pact of the Tome Invocation, which gives Warlocks '''infinite''' usage of the Sending spell for a select number of people, making them the single best class for coordinating scouting and stealth efforts and keeping track of important [=NPCs=]. This second Invocation is an especially brutal blow to Pact of the Chain Warlocks, since a party with even a single Rogue, stealth-inclined Monk or Ranger, or caster with invisibility access and Far Scribe effectively renders the one niche Pact of the Chain has moot.

* Similarly, dipping a level or two of Warlock is extremely common for both of the other Charisma-based casters. The Warlock's two Pact Spells that regenerate on a short rest help alleviate both the Paladin and the Sorcerer's design issues regarding chewing through their spell slots quickly and not really having a way to get them back, ''eldritch blast'' is, as noted under the Warlock section, a potent attack option that scales entirely with character level and comes online very early on, and a lot of Invocations are BoringButPractical, including one that just offers a couple free Charisma skills.

** The Path of the Totem Warrior is pretty much the default choice for Barbarians in ''5th Edition'', simply because of the Bear Totem. Taking this path at 3rd level makes the Barbarian resistant to all damage except psychic while raging. Since psychic damage is fairly uncommon, this effectively doubles your health while raging. And since a Barbarian already has the highest natural HP pool in the game, you've got a character that's NighInvulnerable simply because it's so hard to bring them down. The other features of the Totem Warrior aren't really that good, but the Bear Totem's resistance is so useful that it singlehandedly makes this subclass one of the best.

** In terms of Metamagic, expect to see Sorcerers take Empowered, Subtle, and Quickened Spell. Empowered allows Sorcerers to be proper nukers that [[HighTierScrappy make Evoker Wizards utterly obsolete]] while also being stacked with any other Metamagic option, Subtle is the one completely official way for a caster to use a spell without making visible use of their components (which ensures any fight between mages will end in the Sorcerer's favor, since ''they'' can Counterspell with impunity but their opponent can't since you need to see or hear a spell to counter it), and Quickened is often homebrewed to allow the Sorcerer to use two full spells. Even without homebrew, Quickened is amazing because it allows a Sorcerer to safely turtle-up with Dodge, cover more ground with Dash, cast a Cantrip, or all sorts of other useful options.

* Oath of the Ancients Paladins are one of the more commonly picked subclasses for Paladins, in large part of their level 7 Aura of Warding, which gives any allies within 10 feet of the Paladin ''resistance'' to all magic damage. When you combine this with the already existing aura that gives nearby allies a bonus to saves equal to your charisma modifier, it can absolutely trivialize some fights. Your party gets hit by the Fireball spell? Well, even if they fail the save, they still take half damage. Pass the save? That halved damage gets reduced even more! The other abilities it gets are also pretty useful as well, making it potentially the strongest Paladin subclass defensively.

** Shield is something all arcane casters pick up if they can - including arcane gishes, like Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters. The benefit's just too good - as a reaction, the character uses a first level spell slot to get a +5 to their AC until their turn starts up. It's a reaction to an enemy hitting the caster, meaning it doesn't need any preparation or gambling. Shield is often seen as one of the major reasons mages are so powerful in 5e, as a Sorcerer with only a little dexterity investment and shield can match or even ''exceed'' dedicated sword-and-board Fighters in terms of AC.

** It's common for some Rogue's to end up taking several levels in Fighter, usually up to around level 5 or 6. This is because the Rogue cannot perform a second attack, and lack some of the helpful martial features to be consistent without Sneak Attck. Fighter provides a lot of tools a Rogue would want with that in mind; more HP via Hit Dice, additional fighting styles, Extra Attack, Action Surge, and Second Wind. All of these make a Rogue stronger in battle, and can help keep a struggling Rogue be better in a fight.

* For spellcasters with access to it, good old [[KillItWithFire Fireball]] is a [[SimpleYetAwesome deeply simple]], yet [[TheAllSolvingHammer incredibly powerful tool]]. Its overtuned damage dice make it the best direct damage spell in the game for its cost, it covers a huge area with a decent range, and it even has some modest utility since it can ignite unattended flammable objects. Its only weakness is the relative commonality of fire resistance, and even then, it splashes enough damage across enough targets that it's often worth it if an enemy isn't outright immune. Even support casters mostly focused in other areas benefit from having it up their sleeves, and dumping a Fireball onto a formation of players or monsters is almost always a good opening move in any combat.
* ''Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos'' was released in November 2021, and with it came the spell Silvery Barbs. It's a level 1 reaction spell you can use to force a reroll on an attack, check, or save, with the target having to take the lower roll. Then, you give advantage to an ally that can be used within one minute. Functionally, this is letting you recast any failed spell by giving disadvantage after a target has already succeeded on a check or save. This could upend everything from combat to social interactions. A party of Bards, Sorcerers, and Wizards was already incredibly powerful, but Silvery Barbs means it's so good that no one else needs to show up. It does have downsides -- it still doesn't get past Legendary Resistances, doesn't automatically guarantee success, and can only be used once per person per round (since each entity only gets one reaction per turn). But forcing something to reroll while giving advantage to an ally is a massive boost for the cheap cost of a level 1 spell slot.

* Most players always choose Perception as one of their skills if they have it as an option. Having Perception means noticing things like ambushes, important items, or potentially hidden details that could be important, on top of boosting one's Passive Perception as a bonus. Even someone with Wisdom as a DumpStat is likely to chose Perception, simply because of how important it can be to the table to have a moderately high chance of noticing things. It is often said to be ''the most used skill in the game,'' too, which means the sheer amount of times it will be rolled makes it a good investment to be proficient in.
** As the Sailor background offers Perception and Athletics (which can be used for Strength checks in the same way), it is often a highly-rated background by optimization guides.

* Most players always choose Perception as one of their skills if they have it as an option. Having Perception means noticing things like ambushes, important items, or potentially hidden details that could be important, on top of boosting one's Passive Perception as a bonus. Even someone with Wisdom as a DumpStat is likely to chose Perception, simply because of how important it can be to the table to have a moderately high chance of noticing things.

* Most players always chose Perception as one of their skills if they have it as an option. Having Perception means noticing things like ambushes, important items, or potentially hidden details that could be important, on top of boosting one's Passive Perception as a bonus. Even someone with Wisdom as a DumpStat is likely to chose Perception, simply because of how important it can be to the table to have a moderately high chance of noticing things.

** According to one data set from the D&D Beyond website, Human Fighter is the most common combination in all of Fifth Edition. This is likely on account of the BoringButPractical applications both have; humans gain +1 to all stats, and Fighters are a class that [[JackOfAllStats generally want to be good at most things but don't need to be the best]]. The additional features Fighters get early on helps create a strong character that can keep up with the party. However, this data was probably skewed by the fact that D&D Beyond makes you pay for many races & classes, while Human Fighter is one of the characters you can create for free. Outside of that though, Human Fighters are often suggested for new players because of the simplicity of the combination.

** It's common for Rogue's to end up taking several levels in Fighter, usually up to around level 5 or 6. This is largely because the Rogue cannot perform a second attack, meaning they are stuck doing one attack per turn, and often are forced into awkward FragileSpeedster roles that they want to avoid if possible. Fighter provides a lot of tools a Rogue would want due to that; more HP via Hit Dice, additional fighting styles, Extra Attack, Action Surge, and Second Wind. All of these make Rogue's really strong, and help make Rogue's stay on par with other classes.

** It is usually advised that anyone who plans to play a Sorcerer should multiclass to one of the other Charisma-focused classes in order to bump up their strength, as the Sorcerer's limited abilities need help in order to offset their flaws. In particular, Warlock is often the go-to class because of the power they get from the class's abilities, including the ability to get spells back on a short rest. When combined with the Sorcerer's ability to convert spells into Sorcery Points, this essentially allows them to convert Warlock spells into Sorcery Points, then convert those Sorcery Points into Sorcerer spells, aiding them in getting around the fact that Sorcerers need a long rest to regain both resources (outside of their capstone ability, but this method will help them out more in the long run).

** If the player is only using the base races for playing a Barbarian, expect it to be a Half-Orc. Half-Orcs gain a +2 in Strength and +1 in Constitution, the ability to get back up if reduced to zero HP, and the ability to add an additional damage roll if they crit with a melee weapon. These all combined make a Half-Orc Barbarian hard to kill while giving them a high damage output potential, as with their starting modifiers, they can reach high Strength and Con modifiers with ease. Mountain Dwarves are a close second because of their +2 to Constitution and Strength, however they lack the extra combat bonuses' the Half-Orc gets, as they instead get resistance to poison and a history of stone-like skill instead. Outside of those two, the most common pick for a Barbarian is Goliath due to the race being tailor-made to be one.

* Life Cleric in general is one of the most popular Clerics, largely because of the stigma attached to Clerics via classic video games and even some earlier editions as the 'healbot.' It also tends to get the most shilling. It's a perfectly good class, too, one of the few where everyone will agree it can function well for mid-combat healing.

* Oath of the Ancients Paladins are one of the more commonly picked subclasses for Paladins, in large part of their level 7 Aura of Warding, which gives any allies within 10 feet of the Paladin ''resistance'' to all magic damage. When you combine this with the already existing aura that gives nearby allies a bonus to saves equal to your charisma modifier, it can absolutely trivialize some fights. Your party gets hit by the Fireball spell? Well, even if they fail the save, they still take half damage. Pass the save? That halved damage gets reduced even more! The other abilities it gets are also pretty useful as well, making it potentially the strongest Paladin subclass in terms of how good it is.

** Before the release of the Hexblade Patron and Investment of the Chain Master Invocation, the Pact of the Tome was far-and-away the best Pact Boon option in the game. The Pact of the Blade was seen as gimmicky and limited in usefulness, requiring the use of many Invocations just to bring it up to par with the class's signature ''Eldritch Blast'' cantrip, while the Pact of the Chain [[CrutchCharacter quickly fell off in usefulness]] as the player progressed in level, since its unique familiar never improves or gains hit points as monsters grow more powerful, and the Magic Resistance most of the choices for it grant requires it to be in the area of effect for spells that will kill it through raw damage even if it makes its saving throws. Conversely, the Pact of the Tome offers enormous upgrades to the class's versatility, via not only several free cantrips, but has an Invocation that lets a warlock learn every ritual spell they can find, hugely expanding the class's out-of-combat utility. Even after later options were added, Pact of the Tome is still arguably dominant; a Hexblade warlock is still a formidable obstacle even without the Pact of the Blade and the Pact of the Chain's weird fixation on trying to make a fragile and weak familiar combat-viable hamstrings much of its usefulness. Additionally, while Gift of the Ever-Living Ones and Investment of the Chain Master, along with the already useful scouting option Voice of the Chain Master, did improve the Pact of the Chain significantly, they have to also compete with the ''new Pact of the Tome'' Invocations that came with them. Not only can Pact of the Tome Warlocks get all ritual spells and new cantrips, ''Xanathar's Guide to Everything'' gave them Aspect of the Moon, which gives a Tome-bearing Warlock the ''best'' possible gift for camping and resting in the wild ''and'' grants them immunity to sleep effects, and ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'' gave them the ''gamechanging'' Far Scribe Pact of the Tome Invocation, which gives Warlocks '''infinite''' usage of the Sending spell for a select number of people, making them the single best class for coordinating scouting and stealth efforts and keeping track of important [=NPCs=]. This second Invocation is an especially brutal blow to Pact of the Chain Warlocks, since a party with even a single Rogue, stealth-inclined Monk or Ranger, or caster with invisibility access and Far Scribe effectively renders the one niche Pact of the Chain has moot.

** Before the release of the Hexblade Patron and Investment of the Chain Master Invocation, the Pact of the Tome was far-and-away the best Pact Boon option in the game. The Pact of the Blade was seen as gimmicky and limited in usefulness, requiring the use of many Invocations just to bring it up to par with the class's signature ''Eldritch Blast'' cantrip, while the Pact of the Chain [[CrutchCharacter quickly fell off in usefulness]] as the player progressed in level, since its unique familiar never improves or gains hit points as monsters grow more powerful, and the Magic Resistance most of the choices for it grant requires it to be in the area of effect for spells that will kill it through raw damage even if it makes its saving throws. Conversely, the Pact of the Tome offers enormous upgrades to the class's versatility, via not only several free cantrips, but has an invocation that lets a warlock learn every ritual spell they can find, hugely expanding the class's out-of-combat utility. Even after later options were added, Pact of the Tome is still arguably dominant; a Hexblade warlock is still a formidable obstacle even without the Pact of the Blade and the Pact of the Chain's weird fixation on trying to make a fragile and weak familiar combat-viable hamstrings much of its usefulness.
** The Warlock class is extremely customizable thanks to having two effective subclasses and the versatile and useful abilities offered by Invocations, but ''every'' warlock grabs the class's signature Eldritch Blast cantrip and the Agonizing Blast invocation that upgrades it to add the character's Charisma modifier to damage rolls. Indeed, the class is arguably designed around the assumption that most players will select both, and within their first few levels.

** It's fairly common for Warlocks to take the Devil’s Sight invocation and the Darkness spell; this combination allows them to throw up a cloud of magical darkness that leaves even creatures with natural Darkvision blind and then move in to attack them while they are. However, as party members without Devil’s Sight are ''also'' blinded, this can anger non-Warlock players for making things harder for them.