Sharpshooter vs GWM

[Rukelnikov]

I should step back and acknowledge that you are correct. Melee (Str melee, to be specific) is actually, when applicable, more powerful than ranged. The slight greater synergy that archery fighting style has than GWM notwithstanding, melee is clearly superior. Except of course that you have to get up to your opponent (and survive standing next to them). That's a problem that is baked into the game. The equivalent limitations for ranged are either trivialized with feats, or very DM dependent (ex. we in my groups have always had a limit to how many arrows you can carry, but that's nowhere in the rules). So disproportionate constraints. Also, a ranged character forced into melee (if they don't have XBE) pulls out a rapier and still fights with Dex. A Melee character forced into ranged... either has a decent Dex on top of Str, pulls out a javelin (which has range issues, plus parity problems after level 5 baring houserules), or maybe a combat cantrip obtained through one means or another. None of which make the Str-based melee character as good at ranged as the Dex-based ranged character is at melee.

I'm not saying that you are in any way wrong. It still seems however, that whatever limitations the designers wanted for ranged combat in 5e were too easy to work around, and it is a good preferred default mode for combat effectiveness, baring specifically wanting to play something which capitalizes on one of those melee features you mention.

I concur with ranged being very powerful, and that if you are good ranged, as a side effect you are at least a decent melee. I was just raising points in favor of GWM, because it seemed it wasn't being given as much credit as was due.

Personally I've never had either, but I've seen both in play. Ranged has the advantage to come only really fast, as a DM I had a player roll a Tabaxi Ranger (revised), lvl 2 Archery, lvl 3 Gloom Stalker, lvl 4 SS, lvl 5 extra attack. Those 5 levels were spike after spike, and he was clearly the top DD of the party, at 5th though, the Protector Aasimar Fiendlock got on par (and ofc it is another ranged :P). However by lvl 10 or so the Goliath Paladin of Vengeance was doing pretty comparable damage, and in order to pressure him more of an encounter's xp budget was required than to pressure either of the other 2.

Thinking about this now, maybe the gravest problem is that a ranged character doesn't have to go thru much problems to get to what it needs, its online basically since level one, when melees require more investment and take longer to get on par with them.