Totally Original Class: Watchman

[Yunru]

Since everyone else is talking about the Warlord, here's something entirely different, the Watchman.

Watchman

Yellow eyes scanning the horizon, an elf stretches out her hand and warns her friends of an upcoming ambush. Forewarned, they quickly come up with a plan to turn the ambush on the ambushers.
Long hair whipping in the wind, a human spreads her arms wide and throws her head back. Roaring out a challenge, she draws all attention to herself, allowing the rogue to sneak behind the enemy.
Crouching behind a stalagmite, a halfling points out how best to deal with a charging troglodyte. A quick swing of an ally’s sword spells death for the creature.
Some adventurers work their whole lives to become great rulers, but to others, leading is just the beginning of the adventure. The Watchman is a master of manipulating the battlefield, be it through brash challenges or tactical manoeuvring. A Watchman will synergise with any party effectively, enhancing their combat abilities.

Level	Feature
1	Rallying Call
2	Create Opening (one use)
3	Watchman Path
4	Ability Score Improvement
5	Coordinated Attack
6	Aura of Awareness
7	Watchman Path feature
8	Ability Score Improvement
9	Push Through (one use)
10	Aura of Advantage
11	Watchman Path feature
12	Ability Score Improvement
13	Create Opening (two uses)
14	Push Through (two uses)
15	Watchman Path feature
16	Ability Score Improvement
17	Push Through (three uses)
18	Aura improvements
19	Ability Score Improvement
20	Create Opening (three uses)

Class Features
As a watchman, you gain the following class features:
HIT POINTS
Hit Die: 1d8 per watchman level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per watchman level after 1st
PROFICIENCIES
Armour: Light armour, medium armour, shields
Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Constitution, Intelligence
Skills: Choose two from Deception, Insight, Medicine, Perception and Performance
EQUIPMENT
You start with 150gp to spend on equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background.

Rallying Call
You call out to an ally, encouraging them to push through their wounds and fight on. On your turn, you can use a Bonus Action to have an ally that can hear you regain hit points equal to 1d10 + your watchman level.
Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or Long Rest before you can use it again.

Create Opening
Starting at 2nd level, you can occupy your enemies, granting an ally an opening for a brief moment. On Your Turn, an ally of your choice can take one action as a reaction.
Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or Long Rest before you can use it again. Starting at 13th level, you can use it twice before a rest, but only once on the same turn. At 20th level, you can use it up to three times before a rest, but still only once on the same turn.

Watchman Path
Your watchman path defines what kind of watchman you are. You can choose between Path of the Guardsman, Path of Motivation, and Path of the Tactician. Your watchman path gives you access to unique features and characteristics at third level, and more at 7th, 11th and 15th level.

Ability Score Increase
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase three ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above its maximum using this feature. Alternatively, you can choose a feat from those listed in chapter 6.

Coordinated Attack
At 5th level, one ally within 30 feet of you that can see or hear you may make a single weapon attack whenever you take the Attack action.

Aura of Awareness
Starting at 6th level, as long as you are conscious and capable of communicating, friendly creatures within 10 feet of you may use your Perception modifier in place of their own. Additionally, you and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you may add their proficiency modifier to Initiative rolls.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

Push Through
Beginning at 9th level, you can use your reaction to have an ally you can see reroll a saving throw that they failed. They must use the new roll, and you can't use this feature again until you finish a Long Rest.
You can use this feature twice between long rests starting at 14th level and three times between long rests starting at 17th level.

Aura of Advantage
Starting at 10th level, as long as you are conscious and capable of communicating, friendly creatures have advantage on creatures within 10 feet of you.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I like the name. Might I suggest something a little more left field for rallying cry: when any ally of yours that you can see cannot take an action due to a surprise round where you can take an action, you can use your action to empower that ally to take an action during that round. At 7th level, you can cause empower two allies and at 15th level, you can empower all allies who could not act during a surprise round.

Good excuse for the watchman to take the alert feat (which seems appropriate).

But what about healing? I would double down on that in the Path of Motivation (or maybe change it to Path of the First Responder), but I would give the Watchman proficiency with the healer's kit. Path seems like it already in use, so what about Guardsman's Watch, First Responder's Watch (or Motivator's Watch), and Tactician's Watch?

Aura of Awareness makes me think that the good saves should be wis, int instead of con, int. Plus a good commander's/cop's subconscious mind is working as hard as his/her conscious mind.....

To double down on wisdom, you could give another 1st level feature: sentry's eye: you can use your wisdom modifier for initiative rolls if it is higher than your dexterity modifier.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Nomenclature-wise, "Watchman" is a huge, huge, huge improvement over Warlord. I would sign off on that name. (Although I still think "Warden" is the best name, whatever it used to mean.)

Fluff is not too bad. Minimal reference to inspiration/orders/commands/look-up-to-me-I'm-a-Warlord thing. Whether or not abilities are "magical" is left open to interpretation.

You might consider trying to weave in a "buy extra reactions" mechanic that mellored and I have been playing around with. Reactions seem particularly appropriate to this theme.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I like it, I would play something like this. Mechanically it looks fine, if a little too focused just on combat; a class named watchman could give some exploration/encampment bonus to his companions. Some names seem off to me, but its a matter of preference:
Path - I'm probably the only person alive who give such important to the ''title'' of a class archetype (Path, Oath, Origin, School etc), but I prefer something that tells more about a class. In my version I chose ''Banner'' since the class is about rallying, but I'm sure there's a lot of other names that could be more revealing than just ''Path''.

Path of Motivation sounds strange. If its supposed to be the Healer path, I might suggest something like path of: the Healer, the Field Medic, Physician etc. Make them use improved healing and maybe even give temp bonus to allies to received healing from them.

Path of the guardsman could be called Path of the Sentinel to avoid a player building a Watchman Guardsman which is not a really elegant name.

 

[Guest 6801328]

By the way, it's not really "completely" different. It is slightly different, with a new name.

 

[bganon]

Interesting, but two levels in this gives you an equivalent to Action Surge and a better (at low levels) Lay on Hands? Seems awfully good!

And it's part-healer, part granting actions to allies... how is this not a Warlord?

 

[Yunru]

Might I suggest something a little more left field for rallying cry: when any ally of yours that you can see cannot take an action due to a surprise round where you can take an action, you can use your action to empower that ally to take an action during that round. At 7th level, you can cause empower two allies and at 15th level, you can empower all allies who could not act during a surprise round.

It seems a little... I don't know the word. Not unreliable but close. It depends on too many things for my liking. The enemy has to have surprised your party, you have to be able to act (and thus not surprised), etc.

Aura of Awareness makes me think that the good saves should be wis, int instead of con, int. Plus a good commander's/cop's subconscious mind is working as hard as his/her conscious mind.....

I may switch it to Int, Wis. I was thinking Con for the concentration aspects, but in hindsight that's only a small part.

To double down on wisdom, you could give another 1st level feature: sentry's eye: you can use your wisdom modifier for initiative rolls if it is higher than your dexterity modifier.

I like it. I was thinking something similar but with Perception replacing Initiative, although it was scrapped because it became too wordy to make work with Aura of Awareness.

You might consider trying to weave in a "buy extra reactions" mechanic that mellored and I have been playing around with. Reactions seem particularly appropriate to this theme.

I'll consider it, I've got a whole subclass with no idea what to put in it (Tactician), so that might just be it.

I like it, I would play something like this. Mechanically it looks fine, if a little too focused just on combat; a class named watchman could give some exploration/encampment bonus to his companions.

I've got play left in the class that I can fit out-of-combat features into. You may have noticed some levels look a little bare

Path seems like it already in use, so what about Guardsman's Watch, First Responder's Watch (or Motivator's Watch), and Tactician's Watch?

Some names seem off to me, but its a matter of preference:
Path - I'm probably the only person alive who give such important to the ''title'' of a class archetype (Path, Oath, Origin, School etc), but I prefer something that tells more about a class. In my version I chose ''Banner'' since the class is about rallying, but I'm sure there's a lot of other names that could be more revealing than just ''Path''.

I had a really good name for them all lined up when I first read this. Unfortunately I was out at the time and...

But what about healing? I would double down on that in the Path of Motivation (or maybe change it to Path of the First Responder), but I would give the Watchman proficiency with the healer's kit.

Path of Motivation sounds strange. If its supposed to be the Healer path, I might suggest something like path of: the Healer, the Field Medic, Physician etc. Make them use improved healing and maybe even give temp bonus to allies to received healing from them.

Path of Motivation is a more full-on support subclass. At-will attack granting, bonus action boosts to damage, and later attack, rolls, that sort of thing.

Path of the guardsman could be called Path of the Sentinel to avoid a player building a Watchman Guardsman which is not a really elegant name.

Maybe. Might get confused with the feat in some cases, but... It's growing on me.

By the way, it's not really "completely" different. It is slightly different, with a new name.

That's in part the joke and in part the point.

Interesting, but two levels in this gives you an equivalent to Action Surge and a better (at low levels) Lay on Hands? Seems awfully good!

Equivalents to Action Surge and Second Wind, actually

And it's part-healer, part granting actions to allies... how is this not a Warlord?

Because it's a Watchman!

 

[BookBarbarian]

And it's part-healer, part granting actions to allies... how is this not a Warlord?

 

[MechaTarrasque]

It seems a little... I don't know the word. Not unreliable but close. It depends on too many things for my liking. The enemy has to have surprised your party, you have to be able to act (and thus not surprised), etc.

I can see that. I figure it is an expected value thing-the odds of it happening vary a bit (it is a really generous DM in my opinion who doesn't inflict surprise at least once on a low level party), but the value when it does happen is pretty high, but different strokes for different folks... Mostly I like it because it seems like something a trained martial type would be able to do that a magic type probably wouldn't (or wouldn't think to do, because this is a good situation to cast evard's black tentacles, entangle, or one of the wall spells), and that sort of things ought to be encouraged.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I think I'd name the class (or any Warlord-y class) "Sentinel" rather than "Watchman".