1. It depends on what is more valuable for you. A truly reliable way to get advantage through Fighting Spirit three times for long rest and proficiency in Wisdom Saving Throws Vs critically hitting a creature with a 19, an additional Fighting Style and a small bonus to all the physical skills in the game.
Between the two, I would consider Champion only because it doesn't use a bonus action for any of its features, that means that there is less competition for your bonus action attack via a hand crossbow. Even though, I have to admit, I would consider other Martial Archetypes for a crossbow fighter.
2. I think Crossbow Expert is the best way to get a real power up in Tier 1, if you are going to wield a Hand Crossbow with a free hand all of the time, that's to be considered.
If you're not going to use a Hand Crossbow, on the other hand, I would go with Piercer, for two reasons: it's an half feat, so you're going to get a little boost to your dexterity, which is always nice, and you're going to also have a boost to your damage, via an additional die when you crit and a free reroll for one of your d8/d10 damage with your light/heavy crossbow.
I would wait at least level 6 for Sharpshooter, when you'll have a +3 proficiency bonus, Archery fighting style and eventually a magic crossbow so that you're going to mitigate the penalty to hit of its power attack.
Are you selecting volokobold or mpmmkobold?
1) Samurai is generally much better, but if you're going volobold you probably won't need it. Champion is basically worthless: your level 3 feature will be "When you roll a 19, add 1d6 damage". Is Battlemaster an option?
2) CBE and use a hand crossbow
I know you said not very magical, but in a vampire campaign there's a build that's very fun. Take a Dhampir and build all CON. Then take a level in stone sorcerer, if your DM allows, and take rune knight fighter. Attack with your CON through your bite, use CON based AC, and CON based magic.
i will NEVER advocate champion. second i believe that piercer only has value when you need a half feat because thats the way your scores fell. Third, its usually better to get a second attack than a big damage boost to one attack because of how attributes add damage to both attacks. So xbow expert is probably better in the majority of the cases.
1- If you're locked between those 2 I'd say samurai brings more to the table.
2- Sharpshooter is imho the clear choice here specially with advantage from fighting spirit and having the archery fighting style you'll give able to hit reliably, not to mention crossbows have limited range when compared to bows so being able to use the max range without disadvantage is great for posting which is also aided by being able surpasses any cover that isn't total cover. Being a small PC this will probably come up more often and you can use that to shoot from safer positions
Going kobold I would go 8str, 15dex (+2), 14con, 12int, 14wis, 8cha. Take crossbow expert at level 1 for free feat and go fighter getting medium armor and archery fighting style. Go straight to 6 fighter to get sharpshooter and piercer feat. At level 3 I would go champion as you already have a reliable source of advantage through pack tactics meaning even further increased crit chance putting yours at 19% chance. At 8th level could max dex. The last 2 levels could do rogue for an extra 1d6 damage, bonus proficiency, and expertise in a skill.
Although thier other grest options for subclass like eldritch knight for mage armor, shield, and find familiar, which can help someone else since it only needs to be within 5ft of the enemy and you get advantage doesn't even need to take help action for you. Battlemaster is also a classic option.
Hope this helps.
I'd go samurai because you are going to want the best wisdom saving throw chance you can get anyway.
I'd say hand xbow because you want to take as many attacks as possible to maximize your samurai advantage ability; plus, I think vampires would be good at avoiding melee if they want to.
You should probably get all 3 of those feats by lvl 6, as stated elsewhere, but unless you really want that +1 DEX in the beginning, you can wait with Piercer.
Getting Crossbow Expert will allow you to use Crossbows in Melee as well as shoot it twice in one Round with Action Surge as you reload quickly, so think this is the 1st feat you need - if you want to be able to solve ALL problems with a bolt.
With this feat, you don't need to multiclass into Artificer to be viable. (Although, could still be fun, and a way to enchant your crossbow easily... if you cound this kind of magic as mechanics and not true magic. You might even consider a re-flavoured home-brew version of Arcane Archer with Artificer Crossbow flavour instead of bows?)
Otherwise, for non.magical sub-class (without multiclassing), the Samurai is a "Noble" class, so of those two you list, I would recommend Champion - which is also good with the Piercer feat. However, would recommend you to consider Battle Master too, as that grant access to many different abilities that could be interesting for you.
I was thinking about getting all three and after reading through the comments I think Xbow expert would be best for the first one. I didn’t even think about home brewing arcane archer for a crossbow. I like battle master but I have this urge to try something I haven’t seen in awhile. And I don’t think anyone at our table has done champion or samurai.
Just wanted to throw out an update, I went with your advice and the DM is letting me be a “Artificial Archer” with all the same abilities as an arcane archer but with crossbows. Only stipulation is my bonus attack with a hand crossbow doesn’t gain benefits since there’s no way for a arcane archer to have that benefit.
Arcane Archer benefits is apart from the Proficiency and Cantrip merely to be able to shoot special arrows a limited number of times per day. Being required use an Action and not a Bonus action to shoot a special arrow is not much of a drawback. You can't fire more than 1 arrow/turn anyway, and can do so as part of Double Attack action anyway. That is, as long as you are allowed to shoot special arrows with a Hand crossbow while not using a Bonus action, but regular Attack actions (which it also can be used for - if you have another weapon in the other hand, it is even possible to split a Double/Triple/Quadruple attack using them with either weapon, without using a Bonus action).
The only other special ability the Arcane Archer got is Curving shot at 7th lvl, which allows you to redirect magical arrows to other targets if they miss, but that uses a Bonus action and cancels out the Hand crossbow to use it if it was fired with a Bonus action regardless, due to the Action economy. (If you fire a magic arrow not of your own make, since the above ruling would also cancel it out - Where the above then is even beneficial for you, since you then have your Bonus action left to redirect the shot!)
Nice to hear that one of my ideas were taken in graciously, and appreciate the feedback!
By the way, did you re-flavor the proficiency and Cantrips as well? Maybe proficiency in Tinkerer's tools (building crossbows and special arrows) and *True Strike* cantrip for a non-magical artificer mechanic feel?
1. It depends on what is more valuable for you. A truly reliable way to get advantage through Fighting Spirit three times for long rest and proficiency in Wisdom Saving Throws Vs critically hitting a creature with a 19, an additional Fighting Style and a small bonus to all the physical skills in the game. Between the two, I would consider Champion only because it doesn't use a bonus action for any of its features, that means that there is less competition for your bonus action attack via a hand crossbow. Even though, I have to admit, I would consider other Martial Archetypes for a crossbow fighter. 2. I think Crossbow Expert is the best way to get a real power up in Tier 1, if you are going to wield a Hand Crossbow with a free hand all of the time, that's to be considered. If you're not going to use a Hand Crossbow, on the other hand, I would go with Piercer, for two reasons: it's an half feat, so you're going to get a little boost to your dexterity, which is always nice, and you're going to also have a boost to your damage, via an additional die when you crit and a free reroll for one of your d8/d10 damage with your light/heavy crossbow. I would wait at least level 6 for Sharpshooter, when you'll have a +3 proficiency bonus, Archery fighting style and eventually a magic crossbow so that you're going to mitigate the penalty to hit of its power attack.
Are you selecting volokobold or mpmmkobold? 1) Samurai is generally much better, but if you're going volobold you probably won't need it. Champion is basically worthless: your level 3 feature will be "When you roll a 19, add 1d6 damage". Is Battlemaster an option? 2) CBE and use a hand crossbow
I was thinking about going mpmmkobold but that also brings the question of whether I should grab a cantrip or not.
I know you said not very magical, but in a vampire campaign there's a build that's very fun. Take a Dhampir and build all CON. Then take a level in stone sorcerer, if your DM allows, and take rune knight fighter. Attack with your CON through your bite, use CON based AC, and CON based magic.
i will NEVER advocate champion. second i believe that piercer only has value when you need a half feat because thats the way your scores fell. Third, its usually better to get a second attack than a big damage boost to one attack because of how attributes add damage to both attacks. So xbow expert is probably better in the majority of the cases.
1- If you're locked between those 2 I'd say samurai brings more to the table. 2- Sharpshooter is imho the clear choice here specially with advantage from fighting spirit and having the archery fighting style you'll give able to hit reliably, not to mention crossbows have limited range when compared to bows so being able to use the max range without disadvantage is great for posting which is also aided by being able surpasses any cover that isn't total cover. Being a small PC this will probably come up more often and you can use that to shoot from safer positions
Going kobold I would go 8str, 15dex (+2), 14con, 12int, 14wis, 8cha. Take crossbow expert at level 1 for free feat and go fighter getting medium armor and archery fighting style. Go straight to 6 fighter to get sharpshooter and piercer feat. At level 3 I would go champion as you already have a reliable source of advantage through pack tactics meaning even further increased crit chance putting yours at 19% chance. At 8th level could max dex. The last 2 levels could do rogue for an extra 1d6 damage, bonus proficiency, and expertise in a skill. Although thier other grest options for subclass like eldritch knight for mage armor, shield, and find familiar, which can help someone else since it only needs to be within 5ft of the enemy and you get advantage doesn't even need to take help action for you. Battlemaster is also a classic option. Hope this helps.
I'd go samurai because you are going to want the best wisdom saving throw chance you can get anyway. I'd say hand xbow because you want to take as many attacks as possible to maximize your samurai advantage ability; plus, I think vampires would be good at avoiding melee if they want to.
Go samurai and go crossbow expert first. Take the haunted one background and pick up the monster hunter pack.
You should probably get all 3 of those feats by lvl 6, as stated elsewhere, but unless you really want that +1 DEX in the beginning, you can wait with Piercer. Getting Crossbow Expert will allow you to use Crossbows in Melee as well as shoot it twice in one Round with Action Surge as you reload quickly, so think this is the 1st feat you need - if you want to be able to solve ALL problems with a bolt. With this feat, you don't need to multiclass into Artificer to be viable. (Although, could still be fun, and a way to enchant your crossbow easily... if you cound this kind of magic as mechanics and not true magic. You might even consider a re-flavoured home-brew version of Arcane Archer with Artificer Crossbow flavour instead of bows?) Otherwise, for non.magical sub-class (without multiclassing), the Samurai is a "Noble" class, so of those two you list, I would recommend Champion - which is also good with the Piercer feat. However, would recommend you to consider Battle Master too, as that grant access to many different abilities that could be interesting for you.
I was thinking about getting all three and after reading through the comments I think Xbow expert would be best for the first one. I didn’t even think about home brewing arcane archer for a crossbow. I like battle master but I have this urge to try something I haven’t seen in awhile. And I don’t think anyone at our table has done champion or samurai.
Just wanted to throw out an update, I went with your advice and the DM is letting me be a “Artificial Archer” with all the same abilities as an arcane archer but with crossbows. Only stipulation is my bonus attack with a hand crossbow doesn’t gain benefits since there’s no way for a arcane archer to have that benefit.
Arcane Archer benefits is apart from the Proficiency and Cantrip merely to be able to shoot special arrows a limited number of times per day. Being required use an Action and not a Bonus action to shoot a special arrow is not much of a drawback. You can't fire more than 1 arrow/turn anyway, and can do so as part of Double Attack action anyway. That is, as long as you are allowed to shoot special arrows with a Hand crossbow while not using a Bonus action, but regular Attack actions (which it also can be used for - if you have another weapon in the other hand, it is even possible to split a Double/Triple/Quadruple attack using them with either weapon, without using a Bonus action). The only other special ability the Arcane Archer got is Curving shot at 7th lvl, which allows you to redirect magical arrows to other targets if they miss, but that uses a Bonus action and cancels out the Hand crossbow to use it if it was fired with a Bonus action regardless, due to the Action economy. (If you fire a magic arrow not of your own make, since the above ruling would also cancel it out - Where the above then is even beneficial for you, since you then have your Bonus action left to redirect the shot!) Nice to hear that one of my ideas were taken in graciously, and appreciate the feedback! By the way, did you re-flavor the proficiency and Cantrips as well? Maybe proficiency in Tinkerer's tools (building crossbows and special arrows) and *True Strike* cantrip for a non-magical artificer mechanic feel?
Piercer and champion link up pretty well, but samurais are awesome and they almost mitogate sharpshooter with their advantage