D&D 5E The Warrior

[Imaculata]

Definitely interesting ideas.

Not sure they belong in the core class – but definitely I could see the Bravo, for example, being highly mobile & having a feature that expands on Martial Alacrity (or whatever I end up calling it) and allows him to move great distances in a swashbuckly manner or take a quick 5 foot move as a reaction.

Exactly. I was thinking of a way to incorporate more of these Swashbuckler style cool movement options.

[SECTION]Martial Alacrity: Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Reaction when you roll initiative (as long as you are not surprised), roll a saving throw, or an attack hits or misses you. You can use this Reaction to interact with an object or feature of the environment; for example, you could stow your sword and draw your bow, open or close a door, throw an unconscious ally over your shoulder, hold open a portcullis, withdraw a potion from your backpack, remove torch from a sconce, or give advice to a fellow PC when it's not your turn.[/SECTION]

How does that look as a core class feature? And then certain subclasses can expand on it (e.g. Bravo can use it to perform a special movement, or maybe a guardian-type can equip a shield)?

Giving advice to a fellow PC during combat isn't really something you need a special ability for to do. Likewise, some of the other actions are already quick actions. And isn't opening or closing a door part of normal movement already? (I'm asking, since I'm not as up to date on 5th edition rules as you) Most importantly, this ability still doesn't feel entirely intuitive, and it doesn't make me excited about the ability.

I have some other ideas though...

How about an ability that allows you to leap over an enemy, as part of your attack? What I'm thinking of is that the warrior can do cool athletic tricks during combat, to end up behind an enemy. I'm trying to think of an ability that is simple to understand, and genuinely cool to do. I imagine that the warrior is the hero in a fantasy epic. The brave hero in a movie, who does an amazing move that takes down an enemy. Such a skill would also become more potent at higher levels, when you get more attacks. Because flipping over the head of an enemy, puts you in the enemy's back, to make another attack. And you can put whatever limitations on that as you feel appropriate, such as only once per round, or only once per fight.. or only creatures of the same size category as you.

Thinking about it a bit more... maybe the warrior gets to choose from a list of athletic tricks every few levels or so, thus allowing the player to give their own unique flavor to their character. I'm thinking of taking inspiration from various cool hero-moves from movies, such as Legolas surfing down a staircase on a shield (or defeated enemy), Madmartigan pulling an enemy onto his dropped sword, etc. Other ideas could include: Taking a stab from an armed enemy on purpose, in order to grab hold of his weapon, and put the enemy in a grapple. Diving in front of an ally that takes damage, to take the damage for them, even if it is not your turn. Swinging by a chandelier, rope, vine to cross a room. Performing a plunging attack on an enemy below you, without the requirement of a jump check, adding extra damage to the attack if you hit, perhaps even with advantage.

This would give the warrior a unique movement-related ability that is directly tied to combat.

 

[Lost Soul]

I would have to disagree with that assessment. There have certainly been attempts to improve the fighter in each edition. They've generally fallen short, and been scrapped-and-re-done rather than built upon. The 5e fighter, specifically, is mostly a throw-back to the classic game (fitting in a game that prioritizes classic feel, of course).

Just compare the fighter's evolution to that of casting. Casting keeps getting easier. When casters get a new perk or slough a limitation in one edition, the next doesn't generally un-do it. AD&D piled restrictions on casting, far worse than on ranged weapons, 3e let you make concentration checks to ignore most of those, 4e reduced all those limitations down to 'ranged/area' spells provoking, just like ranged weapon, 5e made casting in melee less restricted than using a ranged weapon in melee.
Fighters? AD&D gave them % STR, 3e took it away. AD&D gave them more hps for CON over 16, 3e gave that to everyone. 3e gave fighters bonus feats, 4e gave everyone the same number of feats. 4e gave fighters marking, superior OAs, at-will and daily maneuvers, more hps than ever before, and 5e took all that away. 5e gave the fighters Extra Attack and Indomitable, CS dice and spellcasting...

Actually each edition of D&D has made casters worse with the possible exception of 3E. in basic spells went off in the initiative turn before missile or melee attacks. Damage spells capped at 20D6. 1rst edition kept that but introduced other weak spells like burning hands (1 hp damage per level) and introduced the first mention of a concentration check. If your magic user suffered damage spell was ruined. 2E capped spell damage for many spells like magic missile, fireball & lightning bolt. 3E had similar caps and allowed saves per round to end spells by 3.5. The only reason spell casters were powerful in 3E was the fact of the stupid saving throw system which idolized character attributes. Take a high attribute plus spell focus twice and saves were almost impossible to make if it was your poor save category. 4E was the absolute worst for casters as their damage was cut down and they were forced into cookie cutter roles. The big backlash against 4E has created 5E which has tried to balance an old school feel with a HUGE anti-caster bias left over from 3E.

Yes spellcasting has gotten easier with each edition. To the point where in 4 & 5 E you can wear armor with no penalty! The tradeoff is that spells themselves are mere shadows of what they were in previous editions and you do not get enough of them to matter in this edition.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Yes spellcasting has gotten easier with each edition. To the point where in 5 E you can wear armor with no penalty! The tradeoff is that spells themselves are mere shadows of what they were in previous editions and you do not get enough of them to matter in this edition.

The limitations on spellcasting have all but disappeared, and casting has gained unprecedented flexibility in 5e due to everyone casting spontaneously and rituals having no slot cost - and casters' save DCs still outpace save bonuses, if not as badly as they could when optimized in 3.x, of course. For the sake of balance, spells becoming 'mere shadows of what they were' is perfectly reasonable. It's also not exactly uniformly the case. A 5th level caster tossing his first fireball does 8d6 in 5e, rather than 5d6; the Tiny Hut was a complicated spell that did little more than protect you from the elements, now it's an impenetrable force barrier.

We can't point to corresponding fighter features like 1e % STR or 3.x WWA and argue that they've been 'nerfed' (or improved) the way some spells have been - because they're just /gone/.

 

[Lost Soul]

The limitations on spellcasting have all but disappeared, and casting has gained unprecedented flexibility in 5e due to everyone casting spontaneously and rituals having no slot cost - and casters' save DCs still outpace save bonuses, if not as badly as they could when optimized in 3.x, of course. For the sake of balance, spells becoming 'mere shadows of what they were' is perfectly reasonable. It's also not exactly uniformly the case. A 5th level caster tossing his first fireball does 8d6 in 5e, rather than 5d6; the Tiny Hut was a complicated spell that did little more than protect you from the elements, now it's an impenetrable force barrier.

We can't point to corresponding fighter features like 1e % STR or 3.x WWA and argue that they've been 'nerfed' (or improved) the way some spells have been - because they're just /gone/.

You can't make a case for the fighter being nerfed or that they have lost power because he has steadily improved in every edition. From basic to 1E you have better armor, weapons that do much more damage to large creatures (1D12 for longswords, 3D6 for great swords) and weapon specialization. 2E carried that over and 3E gave fighters feats for greater flexibility. 4E gave fighters "spells" in the form of powers and 5E gives them feats/extra ASI and a host of abilities that they never had previously such as self heals, spells, action surges, attack dice, etc. The spellcasters, most notably the magic users have had their spells greatly nerfed since basic and run a parallel coarse in the opposite direction. Yes, spellcasting is easier but the effectiveness of the spells is greatly diminished in 5E. Both their effects and quantities are the LOWEST of any edition that uses the spellcasting tables. That is the reason they have been given cantrips that are at will. Stop complaining that the fighter gets nothing. That is completely UNTRUE. The only saving grace for casters is that WOTC has carried over their EPIC FAIL of saving throws to this edition and if saves were calculated like prior editions than casters would be completely overshadowed by martial characters.

 

[Eubani]

You can't make a case for the fighter being nerfed or that they have lost power because he has steadily improved in every edition. From basic to 1E you have better armor, weapons that do much more damage to large creatures (1D12 for longswords, 3D6 for great swords) and weapon specialization. 2E carried that over and 3E gave fighters feats for greater flexibility. 4E gave fighters "spells" in the form of powers and 5E gives them feats/extra ASI and a host of abilities that they never had previously such as self heals, spells, action surges, attack dice, etc. The spellcasters, most notably the magic users have had their spells greatly nerfed since basic and run a parallel coarse in the opposite direction. Yes, spellcasting is easier but the effectiveness of the spells is greatly diminished in 5E. Both their effects and quantities are the LOWEST of any edition that uses the spellcasting tables. That is the reason they have been given cantrips that are at will. Stop complaining that the fighter gets nothing. That is completely UNTRUE. The only saving grace for casters is that WOTC has carried over their EPIC FAIL of saving throws to this edition and if saves were calculated like prior editions than casters would be completely overshadowed by martial characters.

One can make a good case that the Fighter lost a lot since 4e and I will say this every time it gets said 4e did not give the fighter spells, this is a lie pedalled by h4ters and others who for whatever reason want to keep the fighter a simpleton class.

 

[Tony Vargas]

You can't make a case for the fighter being nerfed or that they have lost power because he has steadily improved in every edition

Nerfed would imply that they were awesome at some point. ;p
Every edition tries to improve the fighter, but they don't build on what came before, either taking back goodies from the prior edition or giving them to everyone.
I've already given examples.
In the played it cycled in just a few packets. Give the fighter MDDs, no, wait give everyone MDDs, nah, forget it.
Sad.
.

3E gave fighters feats for greater flexibility

And nerfed multiple attacks, specialization, heavy armor, &TWF, and did away with % STR & the whole 'Lord' thing and gave the fighters superior con bonus to hps to everyone.

4E gave fighters "spells" "exploits" in the form of weapon powers

At-will, encounter, & daily manuevers, that, while mostly weapon attacks rivaled the power of spells for the only time in the game's history (though still not the versatility). And, to be fair, a nerfed weapon specialization 'talent,' plus combat challenge & superiority making it the eds premier defender. But, it took away bonus feats, iterative atracks, nerfed reach weapons, and, most strikingly, did away with the fighter's dramatic THAC0/BAB advantage.

and 5E gives them feats/extra ASI and spells

Yes, one sub-class actually does literally cast spells for the first time. But, it's as much a kludge because MCing is 'optional' as an attempt to polish up the poor fighter.
Feats are also optional, and the 5e fighter only gets two over the 4 everyone gets compared to the 3e fighters 11 on top of 7.

host of abilities that they never had previously such as self heals, action surges, attack dice,

Those are all nerfed down from 4e abilities & powers, the rest of which (hundreds) were, again taken away.

, spellcasting is easier but the effectiveness of the spells is greatly diminished in 5E. Both their effects and quantities are the LOWEST of any edition that uses the spellcasting tables.

Interesting qualifier, there. What you mean is that, even as spells were powered up from the last edition, 5e made them even more care-free to cast, and increased the number of daily slots dramatically, and even kept at-will attack spells as 'cantrips.'

Prior to 5e, though, you're not far off, there was a general pattern of casting shedding limitations and spells be reined in as if to partially compensate. There'd also be some spells that became more powerful, or enabled broken combos. Polymorph & Haste in 3e, Sleep in 4e, etc.

WOTC has carried over their EPIC FAIL of saving throws to this edition

Not without making it yet a little better for casters. 3e upended things by making save DCs scale with caster level and slot level, while save bonuses scaled differently (depending on class one or two 'good' two or one bad), and with three different stats, so saving throw net got worse at high level - as long as the caster was using a top-level slot. 4e inverted saves making them attack rolls and minimizing the impact of optimization, but there were still 3 stats to cover defensively, while caster stats could be consistently maxed. 5e, of course, takes it even further, save bonuses rewire each of the six stats and for most classes 4 of them don't scale at all, while save DCs scale with caster stat and character - not slot - level.

 

[Quickleaf]

[SECTION]Martial Alacrity: Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Reaction when you roll initiative (as long as you are not surprised), roll a saving throw, or an attack hits or misses you. You can use this Reaction to interact with an object or feature of the environment; for example, you could stow your sword and draw your bow, open or close a door, throw an unconscious ally over your shoulder, hold open a portcullis, withdraw a potion from your backpack, remove torch from a sconce, or give advice to a fellow PC when it's not your turn.[/SECTION]

Giving advice to a fellow PC during combat isn't really something you need a special ability for to do. Likewise, some of the other actions are already quick actions. And isn't opening or closing a door part of normal movement already? (I'm asking, since I'm not as up to date on 5th edition rules as you) Most importantly, this ability still doesn't feel entirely intuitive, and it doesn't make me excited about the ability.

In 5e, once on your turn you can interact with the environment/an object; the examples I listed were taken from the PHB as examples of what one can do (though I agree the advice one isn't worth mentioning). Those rules are a bit scattered, but concentrated on PHB p. 190 with "Other Activity On Your Turn" and the "Interacting With Objects Around You" sidebar. In tandem with you move and action, you could do one of those things.

What Martial Alacrity does is let the fighter PC take a second interaction with an object / the environment out of turn. For example...

• The fighter opens a door leading into a room full of orcish archers. No one is surprised. Roll initiative. The fighter, as a reaction to rolling initiative using Martial Alacrity, closes the door, thus requiring one of the orcs to open it up again if they want a shot at the party.
• The cleric goes down to dragon fire which only singes the fighter. As a reaction to rolling a save using Martial Alacrity, he draws a potion from his pack and hands it to another PC to administer to the downed cleric so the fighter can focus on fighting the dragon.
• The fighter is knocked prone during a wolf attack. As a reaction to an attack being made against him, he equips a torch, hoping the flames will drive the wolves back long enough for him to get to his feet.

There could definitely be more that could be done with this once you start combining with other hypothetical features allowing trading in Extra Attacks for more Reactions. Or even subclass features expanding what qualifies as a trigger for Martial Alacrity. For example, swapping a longbow for a longsword in order to make opportunity attacks on monsters trying to sneak past the fighter's position.

I have some other ideas though...

How about an ability that allows you to leap over an enemy, as part of your attack? What I'm thinking of is that the warrior can do cool athletic tricks during combat, to end up behind an enemy. I'm trying to think of an ability that is simple to understand, and genuinely cool to do. I imagine that the warrior is the hero in a fantasy epic. The brave hero in a movie, who does an amazing move that takes down an enemy. Such a skill would also become more potent at higher levels, when you get more attacks. Because flipping over the head of an enemy, puts you in the enemy's back, to make another attack. And you can put whatever limitations on that as you feel appropriate, such as only once per round, or only once per fight.. or only creatures of the same size category as you.

Thinking about it a bit more... maybe the warrior gets to choose from a list of athletic tricks every few levels or so, thus allowing the player to give their own unique flavor to their character. I'm thinking of taking inspiration from various cool hero-moves from movies, such as Legolas surfing down a staircase on a shield (or defeated enemy), Madmartigan pulling an enemy onto his dropped sword, etc. Other ideas could include: Taking a stab from an armed enemy on purpose, in order to grab hold of his weapon, and put the enemy in a grapple. Diving in front of an ally that takes damage, to take the damage for them, even if it is not your turn. Swinging by a chandelier, rope, vine to cross a room. Performing a plunging attack on an enemy below you, without the requirement of a jump check, adding extra damage to the attack if you hit, perhaps even with advantage.

This would give the warrior a unique movement-related ability that is directly tied to combat.

Movement isn't really iconic to the fighter class. I get that it's what action/swashbuckling heroes do in the movies, but it doesn't fit as a universal fighter feature. "Fighters are about movement"? That's *never* really been true in any edition of the game save for some niche 3e or 4e builds. In fact, 5e makes the *rogue* about movement, what with Cunning Action allowing Dash as a bonus action. Even barbarians and monks are more closely associated with movement-based features than the fighter.

In contrast, "Fighters are about being ready, adapting, and using environment/objects to their advantage", feels more true to my experiences with fighter PCs at the table than "Fighters are about movement."

 

[Quickleaf]

Been exploring new ideas for talents – attempting to incorporate a couple ideas more elegantly:

• Specialization/mastery that feels unique for each weapon, encouraging a style of fighting, rather than numerical inflation.
• Options for trading out Extra Attack for a single devastating blow...tying this to weapon mastery. A simplified treatment of "powers."
• Improved fighting style options (i.e. "greater" versions).

General Talents

Accuracy (passive)
Gain a +1 bonus to hit with weapon attacks.

Defense (passive)
Gain a +1 bonus to AC while wearing armor.

Fortitude (passive)
Gain +1 hit point per level.

Iron Resolve (active)
As a Reaction, you can add your proficiency bonus to a saving throw against a threat that you are aware of. If you are already proficient in a save, this gives you a total of double your proficiency bonus to that save.

Might (passive)
Gain a +1 bonus to damage rolls with weapon attacks.

Quickdraw (passive)
Add your proficiency bonus to your initiative rolls.

Unarmored Defense (passive)
While wearing no armor, you may add your Intelligence modifier to your AC, in addition to your Dexterity modifier. You can still wield shields and benefit from Unarmored Defense.

Weapon Talents
You must be wielding the listed weapon or shield in order to use these talents.

Dueling (passive)
When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

Great Weapon Fighting (active)
When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

Improved Dueling (passive)
Prerequisites: 2nd level, Dueling
When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you can use Martial Alacrity to attempt a Disarm.

Improved Great Weapon Fighting (active)
Prerequisites: 2nd level, Great Weapon Fighting
When making the damage re-roll granted by Great Weapon Fighting, you may instead opt to deal average damage (rounded up) of your weapon.

Improved Marksmanship (passive)
Prerequisites: 2nd level, Marksmanship
##?

Improved Protection (active)
Prerequisites: 2nd level, Protection
When using Protection, you no longer need to use your Reaction. Instead, you may use Martial Alacrity.

Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (passive)
Prerequisites: 2nd level, Two-Weapon Fighting
When you engage in two-weapon fighting and take the Attack action, you no longer need to use a bonus action to attack with your offhand. You may make your offhand attack as part of your Attack action.

Marksmanship (passive)
You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.
Note: This is the Archery fighting style renamed.

Protection (active)
When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your Reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

Two-Weapon Fighting (passive)
When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.

Specialization Talents
These talents require wielding a specific type of weapon.

Axe Mastery (active)
Prerequisites: Axe Specialization, 5th level
When wielding an axe, you can use an action to make a devastating blow, scoring a critical hit on a natural 19 or 20. If you hit, you deal an extra die of damage. At 11th level this increases to scoring a critical hit on 18-20, and two extra damage dice on a hit. At 17th level this increases to scoring a critical hit on 17-20, and three extra damage dice on a hit. Additionally, the target must make a Constitution saving throw or be incapacitated. It repeats this save at the start of each of its turns, ending the incapacitation on a success.

Axe Specialization (passive)
When wielding an axe, your critical hits deal three times normal damage dice instead of two times.

Bludgeoning Mastery (active)
Prerequisites: Bludgeoning Specialization, 5th level
When wielding a bludgeoning weapon, you can take an action to make a shoving blow. If you hit, you deal an extra die of damage; at 11th level this increases to two extra damage dice, and at 17th level to three extra damage dice. Additionally, you may attempt to Shove the target, choose one effect on a success:
Push the target up to 15 feet away.
Push the target up to 5 feet away and knock it prone.
Impose disadvantage on the target’s attacks until the start of its next turn.

Bludgeoning Specialization (passive)
When wielding a hammer, flail, mace, maul, or other bludgeoning weapon, you have advantage on your attempts to Shove any creature you hit on the same turn.

Bow Mastery (active)
Prerequisites: Bow Specialization, 5th level
##?

Bow Specialization (passive)
When wielding a bow or crossbow, you can use an action to make a called shot. #called shot? #aimed shot? #hail of arrows? #full draw? #overwatch stance? #pinning shot?
Bow = (BD&D) delay
##?

Polearm Mastery
Prerequisites: Polearm Specialization, 5th level
When wielding a glaive, halberd, pike, or other polearm ##?

Polearm Specialization
##?

Spear Mastery (passive)
Prerequisites: Spear Specialization, 5th level
When wielding a spear, you may use your Extra Attack feature when taking the Ready action.

Spear Specialization (passive)
When wielding a spear, you can take the Ready action to set the spear to receive a charge. Against a creature moving at least 20 feet toward you, your Readied attack deals double damage.

Sword Mastery (active)
Prerequisites: Sword Specialization, 5th level
When wielding a greatsword, longsword, rapier, scimitar, shortsword, or other sword, you can take an action to make a deflecting blow. If you hit, you deal an extra die of damage; at 11th level this increases to two extra damage dice, and at 17th level to three extra damage dice. This immediately restores your guard, allowing you to Parry again.

Sword Specialization (passive)
When wielding a greatsword, longsword, rapier, scimitar, shortsword, or other sword, you do not expend your Reaction to Parry if your parry negates all damage from the attack.

[SECTION]Weapon Notes
Sword = (4e) bonus AC vs. target; (BD&D) deflect
Greatsword = (BD&D) deflect & stun
Flail/Mace/Hammer = (4e) forced movement & daze, (BD&D) better AC
Spear/Polearm = (4e) target provokes AoO when shifting, (BD&D Halbred) hook & disarm
Crossbow = (BD&D) stun
Dagger = (BD&D) improved critical range[/SECTION]

 

[Tony Vargas]

In contrast, "Fighters are about being ready, adapting, and using environment/objects to their advantage", feels more true to my experiences with fighter PCs at the table than "Fighters are about movement."

But is, like 'Fighter is about movement,' not mechanically supported in any edition.
Though, there were specific fighter builds in 3e & 4e that could do quite a bit of dancing around, not to mention mounted combat builds... :shrug:

But, I get that your experiences were quite specific in that regard.

 

[Quickleaf]

But is, like 'Fighter is about movement,' not mechanically supported in any edition.
Though, there were specific fighter builds in 3e & 4e that could do quite a bit of dancing around, not to mention mounted combat builds... :shrug:

But, I get that your experiences were quite specific in that regard.

Comparing the jump spell and Champion, you'd think it was 5th

But seriously, that's a good point. There is room in the concept of "warrior" for quite a bit of leeway in interpretation that goes above and beyond what D&D has covered. Sure.

And there is a certain type of fighter – a Musketeer / Dread Pirate Roberts type – who fits that highly mobile model very well.

But the execution of whatever movement mechanic [MENTION=6801286]Imaculata[/MENTION] was imagining would need to be meaningfully differentiated from the Rogue class in a way that feels "fighter-y."

How about an ability that allows you to leap over an enemy, as part of your attack? What I'm thinking of is that the warrior can do cool athletic tricks during combat, to end up behind an enemy. I'm trying to think of an ability that is simple to understand, and genuinely cool to do. I imagine that the warrior is the hero in a fantasy epic. The brave hero in a movie, who does an amazing move that takes down an enemy. Such a skill would also become more potent at higher levels, when you get more attacks. Because flipping over the head of an enemy, puts you in the enemy's back, to make another attack. And you can put whatever limitations on that as you feel appropriate, such as only once per round, or only once per fight.. or only creatures of the same size category as you.

I thought about this one a bit further. Another way of rephrasing this in a way that makes sense with 5e rules is "you can move through enemy spaces." That accommodates both the fiction you're aiming for as well as something like "the knight dashes left and right under the dragons legs to attack its wing" or even "the gladiator meets shields with the orc, abruptly spinning around it to slash his scimitar at the nape of its neck."

That would be a very powerful ability in certain situations.

Ways it might upgrade could be moving through multiple enemies in a turn, mitigating opportunity attacks when moving through enemies (possibly stepping on toes of Mobile feat), or getting pot-shots against an enemy he moves through.

Does that feel like it supports multiple concepts of what a fighter is?

Thinking about it a bit more... maybe the warrior gets to choose from a list of athletic tricks every few levels or so, thus allowing the player to give their own unique flavor to their character. I'm thinking of taking inspiration from various cool hero-moves from movies, such as Legolas surfing down a staircase on a shield (or defeated enemy), Madmartigan pulling an enemy onto his dropped sword, etc. Other ideas could include: Taking a stab from an armed enemy on purpose, in order to grab hold of his weapon, and put the enemy in a grapple. Diving in front of an ally that takes damage, to take the damage for them, even if it is not your turn. Swinging by a chandelier, rope, vine to cross a room. Performing a plunging attack on an enemy below you, without the requirement of a jump check, adding extra damage to the attack if you hit, perhaps even with advantage.

I feel like this idea edges into "defining away creativity" territory. Those sorts of wild ideas – "I surf down the stairs on my shield / the orc" – are best left up to improvisation or narration in play. Trying to codify such unique things specifically can lead to bloat.

And some of it feels like it's crossing the DM's side of the screen, so to speak. For example, "taking a stab from an armed enemy on purpose, in order to grab hold of his weapon and put the enemy in a grapple" – that sounds like the kind of thing that a DM might offer spur of the moment (or a player might cajole their DM to agree to). A lot of this "risk for reward" stuff, like the plunging attack example, I've seen handled at the table level; I think the closest the class design comes to incorporating it is the Barbarian's Reckless Attack...

...What I could see working is having Martial Alacrity (which allows Reaction to be used when you're attacked) be expanded for, say, the Bravo or Gladiatorsubclass, so that you can use Martial Alacrity to perform a Grapple once per enemy per short rest. Something along those lines. Similar to how the Thief's Fast Hands expands the Rogue's Cunning Action.

"Diving in front of an ally that takes damage, to take the damage for them, even if it is not your turn." – I've incorporated something very similar to this for the Destined Hero subclass.

"Swinging by a chandelier, rope, vine to cross a room." – This is the kind of thing where I think any character could potentially do this, so there's actual harm done by codifying it, because it sets precedent for "only characters of X class/subclass/type can swing by chandelier, rope, or vine to cross a room."