D&D 5E The New Fighter

[Kinak]

If taking an action got you all of your ED back it may be a good deal

Yeah, this seems like a pretty easy fix. Take an action to catch your breath and you're back in the fight.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Gorgoroth]

It's perfect, it would speed up combat too, while at the same time allowing the melee types to focus on the rounds where they are doing their BIG SHINY MOVES

The best part is then other players can and should pick up the slack for that round when the fighter's winded and recovering to set up some crazy combos. Good way to spread out amongst the party different focus times. I know I would seriously have to consider taking a break after 4 rounds if I'd expended all my stuff, and just maybe do a reaction to defend myself here and there. Gives D&D a new type of rhythm, more natural, like a boxing match (if you know how much energy you expend fighting, even in a short time, you'll agree, fighting drains you, fast)

 

[Warbringer]

Not much to add, seems too constrained.

Recharge .. 1 die reaction, 2 die move action, 3 die standard action ... Or

Recharge mechanic ala 4e ... Recharge con bonus / d6 for spent die. ... So a fighter Con+4 has a 4/6 chance of recharging spent dice.. (6 always fails)

 

[Li Shenron]

Is it really necessary to make a difference between Whirlwind Attack and Volley? It's the same thing.

I thought the same, but I would either merge them into the same ability, or (better) go the entirely opposite way and let a Fighter choose either to boost Whirlwind or Volley every 5 levels, instead of choosing either path and never getting the other.

 

[Gargoyle]

At first I thought, as long as there are retraining rules, I was ok with choosing either Whirlwind or Volley, but now that I think about it, I agree I'd rather fighters eventually have the option to get both. If I have a fighter dedicated to becoming a great archer and he gets whirlwind it's not going to also make him a great melee fighter but would simply make him useful in melee fights with lots of opponents, nothing wrong with that for a higher level archer. I don't really like combining them into one ability though, it just seems like a different talent, even though the results are the same.

 

[Gargoyle]

A couple of ideas:

- Optional recovery: when you spend an Expertise Die, and roll a 6, you get the die back at the end of your action.
- Recovery as an action: maybe the fighter could get something extra when he spends an action refocusing, like temporary hit points (or even regain hit points)?

I like both these ideas. Riffing on your second idea, maybe instead of just spending an action to refocus, he could use the Dodge action (I think it's called, the one that gives him an AC bonus) to refocus. When I'm sparring that's sort of the rhythm I get into...you refocus on what you'r going to do next while focusing on defense.

 

[Szatany]

At first I thought, as long as there are retraining rules, I was ok with choosing either Whirlwind or Volley, but now that I think about it, I agree I'd rather fighters eventually have the option to get both.

I think the same should apply to other fighter abilities that have a list of choices (death dealer, etc.). Ideally, each of them should give one ability, as they do now, but also grant another one every 4 or 5 levels after that.

 

[Gargoyle]

I think the same should apply to other fighter abilities that have a list of choices (death dealer, etc.). Ideally, each of them should give one ability, as they do now, but also grant another one every 4 or 5 levels after that.

I would have to think about that one a bit. The beauty of it now is that each set of choices focuses on one area such as defense...allowing them to stack might specialize a fighter too much in one direction. It's pretty obvious to me the new World of Warcraft talent trees influenced their design.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

You know, the more I think about it, the more I think the actual "Expertise Dice" mechanic for martial maneuvers is an unnecessary complication and adds resource management that isn't required. I'd propose something more like this:

"Martial Maneuvers: Once per turn, when you attack, you can execute a martial maneuver that you know in conjunction with your attack."

You might get three martial maneuvers at level 1 and another one each level or every-other level. Each maneuver would allow you to do something interesting in conjunction with your attack, but would not simply be +x to attack, +y to damage, add another attack, or some other simple mechanical benefit. The maneuvers list would include general capabilities as well as weapon-specific maneuvers, and would encompass options that are on the current expertise list as well as some of the martial feats (so things like Cleave, Disarm, Push, Called Shot, etc would be on the martial maneuvers list). I'd allow some martial maneuvers to also be listed as feats to let other martial classes (barbarian, ranger, paladin, rogue) take them, but would keep a large number of the maneuvers unique to the fighter class. The fighter might still retain some bonus feats, but most of his bonuses would be built around gaining additional maneuvers. Some of the maneuvers might scale with level, have a level prerequisite, or have another maneuver as a prerequisite so you can gain effectiveness with increasing level.

No resources to manage, no recharge mechanic, just add something special to your attack because you're a fighter and that's what you do.

 

[Klaus]

You know, the more I think about it, the more I think the actual "Expertise Dice" mechanic for martial maneuvers is an unnecessary complication and adds resource management that isn't required. I'd propose something more like this:

"Martial Maneuvers: Once per turn, when you attack, you can execute a martial maneuver that you know in conjunction with your attack."

You might get three martial maneuvers at level 1 and another one each level or every-other level. Each maneuver would allow you to do something interesting in conjunction with your attack, but would not simply be +x to attack, +y to damage, add another attack, or some other simple mechanical benefit. The maneuvers list would include general capabilities as well as weapon-specific maneuvers, and would encompass options that are on the current expertise list as well as some of the martial feats (so things like Cleave, Disarm, Push, Called Shot, etc would be on the martial maneuvers list). I'd allow some martial maneuvers to also be listed as feats to let other martial classes (barbarian, ranger, paladin, rogue) take them, but would keep a large number of the maneuvers unique to the fighter class. The fighter might still retain some bonus feats, but most of his bonuses would be built around gaining additional maneuvers. Some of the maneuvers might scale with level, have a level prerequisite, or have another maneuver as a prerequisite so you can gain effectiveness with increasing level.

No resources to manage, no recharge mechanic, just add something special to your attack because you're a fighter and that's what you do.

That is basically the Essentials Fighter. You start with two at-will stances, and gain more at every few levels. On top of that, you can push yourself a few times (through Power Strike), but you must rest before pushing yourself again. And finally, you get a few utility tricks, based on which skills you're trained in.