Obergnom
First Post
Stance Fighter Variant
Remove: Fighter Bonus Feats
Get: Combat Stance, Stance Feats, Quick Stance
Combat Stance: At Level 1, a Fighter starts out with one "Stance". Stances are sets of Feats, and a Fighter can have only one Stance active at any one time. Changing between Stances is a Standard Action. At Level 5, 10, 15 and 20 a Fighter gains a new Stance. The feats in a new stance must be picked as if it was his first stance. (He has to have one feat he could have picked up at 1st level, one he could pick up at 2nd etc.) He has not to keep track when exactly he picked up his general feats, though. A fighter is encouraged to name his stances.
Stance Feat: Each time you get a Stance Feat you may pick a bonus feat for each of your stances. When you gain such a Feat, you get to pick different Feats for each stance (or the same one, if you choose). You have to pick these Feats from the Fighter Bonus Feat list. Feats in one Stance can not be used to qualify for feats in another stance. If you pick up a general feat that uses feats from one of your stances as a requirement, you loose its benefit if you change to a different stance. If you want to qualify for a prestige class, you must be able to meet all of its requirements at once, and if you change into a stance that makes you loose the requirements, you loose the Classes benefits as long as you do not
change to your previous stance.
Quick Stance: At 7th Level, you get the ability to change stances as a move action. At 13th level you can do so as a swift equivalent action, and at 19th level as an immediate action.
Example: A 6th Level Fighter could have, say Iron Will, Great Fortitude and Lightning Reflexes as generall feats (1,3,6) and a Sword&Board stance consisting of Shield Spec, Shield Ward, Agile Shield Fighting, Shield Bash (1,2,4,6) and a Great Sword Damage Stance consisting of Power Attack, Cleave, Weapon Focus and Weapon Spec.
I picked this idea up at the forums at Giant in the Playground, but honestly have no idea who came up with this. It is modified though.
We are use this variant for some time know, and my players are loving it. Allthough it make building a fighter more complicated, as you have to choose between building a regular fighter and using the stances for extras only (Mounted Combat, Ranged Combat, Grapple) or built a fighter that actually uses different stances in a single battle.
The idea behind this variant is, it does not make the fighter more powerfull at one time (not until the high levels, when changing as swift action is possible) but it makes him the ultimate warrior, able to use several fighting styles.
Remove: Fighter Bonus Feats
Get: Combat Stance, Stance Feats, Quick Stance
Combat Stance: At Level 1, a Fighter starts out with one "Stance". Stances are sets of Feats, and a Fighter can have only one Stance active at any one time. Changing between Stances is a Standard Action. At Level 5, 10, 15 and 20 a Fighter gains a new Stance. The feats in a new stance must be picked as if it was his first stance. (He has to have one feat he could have picked up at 1st level, one he could pick up at 2nd etc.) He has not to keep track when exactly he picked up his general feats, though. A fighter is encouraged to name his stances.
Stance Feat: Each time you get a Stance Feat you may pick a bonus feat for each of your stances. When you gain such a Feat, you get to pick different Feats for each stance (or the same one, if you choose). You have to pick these Feats from the Fighter Bonus Feat list. Feats in one Stance can not be used to qualify for feats in another stance. If you pick up a general feat that uses feats from one of your stances as a requirement, you loose its benefit if you change to a different stance. If you want to qualify for a prestige class, you must be able to meet all of its requirements at once, and if you change into a stance that makes you loose the requirements, you loose the Classes benefits as long as you do not
change to your previous stance.
Quick Stance: At 7th Level, you get the ability to change stances as a move action. At 13th level you can do so as a swift equivalent action, and at 19th level as an immediate action.
Code:
Stance Fighter progression chart:
L 1: 1st Stance Feat, Combat Stance (1st Stance)
L 2: 2nd Stance Feat
L 3:
L 4: 3rd Stance Feat
L 5: Combat Stance (2nd Stance)
L 6: 4th Stance Feat
L 7: Quick Stance (Move Action)
L 8: 5th Stance Feat
L 9:
L 10: 6th Stance Feat, Combat Stance (3rd Stance)
L 11:
L 12: 7th Stance Feat
L 13: Quick Stance (Swift Action)
L 14: 8th Stance Feat
L 15: Combat Stance (4th Stance)
L 16: 9th Stance Feat
L 17:
L 18: 10th Stance Feat
L 19: Quick Stance (Immediate Action)
L 20: 11th Stance Feat, Combat Stance (5th Stance)Example: A 6th Level Fighter could have, say Iron Will, Great Fortitude and Lightning Reflexes as generall feats (1,3,6) and a Sword&Board stance consisting of Shield Spec, Shield Ward, Agile Shield Fighting, Shield Bash (1,2,4,6) and a Great Sword Damage Stance consisting of Power Attack, Cleave, Weapon Focus and Weapon Spec.
I picked this idea up at the forums at Giant in the Playground, but honestly have no idea who came up with this. It is modified though.
We are use this variant for some time know, and my players are loving it. Allthough it make building a fighter more complicated, as you have to choose between building a regular fighter and using the stances for extras only (Mounted Combat, Ranged Combat, Grapple) or built a fighter that actually uses different stances in a single battle.
The idea behind this variant is, it does not make the fighter more powerfull at one time (not until the high levels, when changing as swift action is possible) but it makes him the ultimate warrior, able to use several fighting styles.
