I want to get physical in the fights, not be a spell caster.
Why, first Charisma, then Dexterity - thats Bard. Charisma isnt useful by itself in combat, only if you're a spellcaster.
Bards can go physical though. Dont go Lore, go one of the other two choices.
College of Valour gives you shields and all weapons, College of Swords gives you Scimitars and either Dueling (one weapon) or Two-Weapon Fighting.
They BOTH give you medium armor and an additional attack per round at level 5, too. College of Lore doesnt get that; they get more spells and skills and a nice disruption ability instead.
But Bards are one of the pure spellcasters. Those are Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard. These classes level their spells at every level and gain access to new spell levels every second level, ending at level 6 spells in the end. So dont pick Bard thinking this is a pure physical fight class.
Bards also have healing and crowd control and excellent social skills, including useful spells like Disguise Self. They are the only class that can pick from all 18 skills at the start of the game, and get a general feat that gives them half proficiency bonus on those skills they have no proficiency for.
Bards and Rogue are the two skill master classes, though they have very different strengths. Rogue in the end (level 10) gets an ability to turn all skill rolls below 10 into 10. Bard gets more skills than Rogue if they go Lore (6 vs 4), can learn any skill, and with level 2 they get half Proficiency bonus even on skills they dont have the Proficiency for. Both Bards and Rogues can gain Expertise (double Proficiency bonus) for 4 skills - two at level 1 and 6 for Rogue, two at level 3 and 10 for Bard.
The alternative would be Charisma, then Strength. Thats Paladin. They are one of the two "half" spellcasters, the other is Ranger. Their spells progress at a much slower pace, they only gain spellcasting at level 2 and they only get a new spell level every 4 levels, up to level 3 in the end.
Paladins have their Oaths though and that can be big trouble. You cant just do whatever you want, unless you turn Oathbreaker. Which is a perfectly valid choice though.
Anyway Paladins are one of the Tank classes who can wear Heavy Armor.
The other two classes with Charisma are Sorcerer and Warlock. As mentioned, they are pure spellcasters, and unlike Bard, they really arent meant to go toe to toe with opponents.
The Dexterity classes are of course Rogue and Ranger. Neither really needs Charisma for anything. Though you CAN of course give a Rogue Charisma if you like to. Just dont go overboard, it doesnt actually serve any function, other than boosting social skills. For Ranger, Charisma is the traditional dumpstat.
Finally it should be noted that if you really dont want to be Spellcaster, well then you should go Fighter, probably Battle Master, or Rogue; avoiding Arcane Trickster. I dont think anyone likes Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster. They kind of suck.
