Quartz
Hero
TLDR: change the Battlemaster's maneuvers from per Short Rest to per round.
One of the big problems with the Fighter is that it actually sucks at fighting. Damage-wise it's balanced against the other battler classes - even the Ranger if you assume Hunter's Mark is active (and for a high level Ranger it can be active all day) - if you consider the basic attacks, but the other classes outshine it once you include attacks from the Bonus Action and the Reaction. The bonuses to damage that the other classes get simply outweigh whatever the Fighter gets.
Here's a typical table for higher-level PCs using the Duelling style. No feats.
Edit: tables snipped because they looked okay in composition but didn't on posting so I've uploaded the spreadsheet instead.
So how about adding per-round usage to the Battlemaster's maneuvers?
That is, at 3rd level the BM's maneuvers are as in the PHB, per Short Rest, but this changes at 5th level (maybe 6th?): in addition to the three uses per Short Rest, the Fighter gets one free use per round, two per round at 11th level, and three times per round at 17th level. You no longer gain extra superiority dice beyond the initial four. The BM gets a die or two of extra damage or can use them for other maneuvers.
One of the big problems with the Fighter is that it actually sucks at fighting. Damage-wise it's balanced against the other battler classes - even the Ranger if you assume Hunter's Mark is active (and for a high level Ranger it can be active all day) - if you consider the basic attacks, but the other classes outshine it once you include attacks from the Bonus Action and the Reaction. The bonuses to damage that the other classes get simply outweigh whatever the Fighter gets.
Here's a typical table for higher-level PCs using the Duelling style. No feats.
Edit: tables snipped because they looked okay in composition but didn't on posting so I've uploaded the spreadsheet instead.
So how about adding per-round usage to the Battlemaster's maneuvers?
That is, at 3rd level the BM's maneuvers are as in the PHB, per Short Rest, but this changes at 5th level (maybe 6th?): in addition to the three uses per Short Rest, the Fighter gets one free use per round, two per round at 11th level, and three times per round at 17th level. You no longer gain extra superiority dice beyond the initial four. The BM gets a die or two of extra damage or can use them for other maneuvers.
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