D&D 5E The fighter's Indomitable ability

[LapBandit]

It'd be better off as a Reaction that raises all saves for one round. Considering when fighters get it, I think it's thematically and mechanically appropriate.

 

[Gladius Legis]

You know what else Fighters get? 2 more ASIs/feats than everyone else. You know what Fighters are not? A MAD class.

With that in mind, you know what feat would help with making Indomitable actually worth using with WIS saves? Resilient (WIS). You should take that feat by Lv. 8 or thereabouts.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

If I were to run a campaign that might actually go to double-digits, and someone actually stuck it out with a fighter through 9th level, I'd seriously consider house-ruling indomitable to be more meaningful and to convey something closer to actual indomitability. Perhaps restricting the re-roll to STR, WIS, & CHA saves, but also granting proficiency on WIS/CHA saves.

One possibility: Indomitable doesn't get used up unless you actually succeed on your save. So if you're trying to break out of a Hold Person, you can keep applying Indomitable every round until it works, unless your regular save suffices. That will basically halve the duration of whatever effect you're trying to break free of.

 

[Ashrym]

One possibility: Indomitable doesn't get used up unless you actually succeed on your save. So if you're trying to break out of a Hold Person, you can keep applying Indomitable every round until it works, unless your regular save suffices. That will basically halve the duration of whatever effect you're trying to break free of.

I like that as a house rule. Personally, I think the fighter chassis is strong enough without it, but on that same note I was a bit surprised the ability had been cut back that much from the version run in the play test. It certainly wouldn't break the game and I think your idea is much more appealing with such a small tweak.

 

[Ahglock]

It's worked fairly well for us though I think it should have come into play a few levels earlier. I don't toss that many incapacitating effects at the party or the fighter specifically so I'm not sure I want it more effective. More effective might basically mean immune at that point since getting hit by these effects is rare enough as is.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I like that as a house rule. Personally, I think the fighter chassis is strong enough without it, but on that same note I was a bit surprised the ability had been cut back that much from the version run in the play test. It certainly wouldn't break the game and I think your idea is much more appealing with such a small tweak.

Yeah, I'm not planning to apply this tweak either. I'm just spitballing/brainstorming for the sake of anyone who thinks it's too weak as written.

I think fighters don't need any boosting. They are already awesome. And if I wanted to boost them, I wouldn't do it by tinkering with class features--I would do it by fleshing out the combat system with more things to do with your Extra Attacks, a la DMG Disarm. E.g. crippling blows to temporarily render an enemy limb useless. Anyone could do this, but the fighter has more attacks per round and so would be better at it, just like he is better at grappling.

 

[Bacon Bits]

I was re-reading the PHB last night and realised that while the Fighter's abilities usually refresh after a short rest, the Indomitable feature keys off a long rest. The only other ability that refreshes after a long rest is the Eldritch Knight's spells per day. Has that been corrected in the errata? How would it change the class to have it work off a short rest?

My guess is it was a conservative change when the original ability proved to be too powerful. Indomitable was significantly more powerful in the final public playtest. In those documents, Indomitable was "Advantage on all saving throws." That's it. No other limitations.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Advantage on all saves is tantamount to Magic Resistance - which also seems a little lack-luster....

 

[The Crimson Binome]

You know what else Fighters get? 2 more ASIs/feats than everyone else. You know what Fighters are not? A MAD class.

With that in mind, you know what feat would help with making Indomitable actually worth using with WIS saves? Resilient (WIS). You should take that feat by Lv. 8 or thereabouts.

If you're playing in a game that uses the Feats optional rule, and you are specifically including the Resilient feat. Otherwise, the Fighter can just spend those ability boosts directly into Wisdom, after maxing out both Strength (or Dex) and Con.

Of course, at that rate, you're still pretty domitable until you reach very high levels.

 

[Njall]

You know what else Fighters get? 2 more ASIs/feats than everyone else. You know what Fighters are not? A MAD class.

[...]

You know what else Fighters don't get? As many class abilities as every other noncaster.
Really, I'll never understand why people keep bringing up the number of ASI a fighter gets like it's some sort of saving grace. They're not free by any stretch of imagination, they replace actual class abilities, and depending on the class ability and the specific feat we're talking about, ASI/feats are not bound to come out ahead.
Also, spending a feat/ASI just to increase a single save by a single point is a terrible investment, and fighters only get 2 extra ASI anyway.