[Points of Light] Combat Styles

I’ve been agonizing over this new bit of class design, so I come to the community for critiquing! Here’s the deal:


PoL will have four ki (aka martial) classes; instead of writing several builds into each class, I’m giving each ki class access to a pool of combat styles. It makes my design life easier, and I think it avoids unnecessary options -- instead of having separate dual-wield options for the ranger, for the fighter, and for the barbarian, for example, there’s a single dual-wield option that any ki or hybrid/multiclassed ki PC can pick up.


Combat styles are also a convenient way to create thematic secondary stats for each character. So...read and let me know what you think. Do any of them stick out as OP or UP?

Reaping Blade Style
Associated Weapons: Crescent Blades
Benefit: You deal 1[Charisma] ongoing damage (save ends) when you bloody an enemy.
Level 11: 2[Charisma] extra damage.
Level 21: 3[Charisma] extra damage.

Giant Slayer Style
Associated Weapons: Straight Blades
Benefit: You deal 1[Dexterity] extra damage to creatures bigger than you.
Level 11: 2[Dexterity] extra damage.
Level 21: 3[Dexterity] extra damage.

Executioner’s Style
Associated Weapons: Axes
Benefit: You gain 1[Constitution] temporary hit points when you bloody an enemy or reduce it to 0 hit points.
Level 11: 2[Constitution] temporary hit points.
Level 21: 3[Constitution] temporary hit points.

Brutal Hammer Style
Associated Weapons: Maces
Benefit: You push your enemy 2 + 1[Constitution] spaces on a hit.

Bloody Flail Style
Associated Weapons: Flails
Benefit: You gain 1[Dexterity] damage tokens on a hit. You don’t lose these tokens at the end of the turn during which you get them.
Level 11: 2[Dexterity] damage tokens.
Level 21: 3[Dexterity] damage tokens.

Maiming Pick Style
Associated Weapons: Picks
Benefit: Enemies you hit take 1[Constituion] damage the first time they move or shift until the end of their next turn.
Level 11: 2[Constituion] damage.
Level 21: 3[Constituion] damage.

Dancing Spear Style
Associated Weapons: Spears
Benefit: You can shift 1[Wisdom] spaces as a free action after you hit.

Bending Branch Style
Associated Weapons: Staffs
Benefit: You can shift 1[Wisdom] spaces as a free action after an enemy misses you.

Stalwart Shield Style
Associated Weapons: Shields
Benefit: You grant one ally adjacent to you or to your target 1[Intelligence] temporary hit points when you hit. (With any weapon.)
Level 11: 2[Intelligence] temporary hit points.
Level 21: 3[Intelligence] temporary hit points.

Iron Fist Style
Associated Weapons: Unarmed attacks
Benefit: Your unarmed attacks gain a +2 proficiency bonus and deal 1d8 damage instead of 1d4. You can slide your enemy 1[Wisdom] spaces when you hit.

Assassin’s Style
Associated Weapons: One-Handed Off-Hand melee weapons
Benefit: You deal 1[Intelligence] extra damage when you have combat advantage.
Level 11: 2[Intelligence] extra damage.
Level 21: 3[Intelligence] extra damage.

Piercing Arrow Style
Associated Weapons: Bows and crossbows
Benefit: When you attack, reduce the penalties you take from cover and concealment by 1[Wisdom].
When you hit an enemy that is being granted cover from your attack by another enemy, you deal 1[Wisdom] damage to one enemy granting cover to the enemy you hit.
Level 11: 2[Wisdom] damage.
Level 21: 3[Wisdom] damage.

Marauder’s Throwing Style
Associated Weapons: Thrown weapons
Benefit: When you make a ranged attack, you do not provoke opportunity attacks.
When you hit a non-adjacent enemy, you deal 1[Wisdom] damage to one adjacent enemy.
Level 11: 2[Wisdom] damage.
Level 21: 3[Wisdom] damage.

Double Blade Bravo Style
Associated Weapons: Any two melee weapons
Benefit: You can wield a one-handed melee weapon in your off-hand as if it were an off-hand weapon. When you miss with one attack, add a +1[Charisma] power bonus to the other attack result.

Abilities don't increase in PoL, so each multiple of [ability] is the same 2-3ish damage no matter what level a PC is.

Weapon types: I tweaked the weapons types a bit, and added weapons of every size and shape into each type. For example, instead of light and heavy blades, PoL has straight and crescent blades. Instead of one quarterstaff, there’s also the battle staff (martial) and war staff (superior). I say this to be clear that no weapon group needs extra help right out of the box -- they’ve each got plenty of options and balance.


Attack and damage tokens: These are my way of dealing with “Someone gets +X to their next attack/damage roll before the end of your next turn” type effects. Except for disappearing at the end of the user’s turn, tokens are exactly like +X bonuses -- they don’t stack, so you can’t accumulate a big pile of them by tapping multiple token sources and they actually become a power bonus when used.