D&D (2024) Fighter (Playtest 7)

[doctorbadwolf]

The way Crawford talks in his videos either he plays a heavy dungeon crawl at home, only runs standard games in public, or is purposely obvious to the common complaints about the system until he is ready to begrudgingly change them.

I rather be generous and say that he just doesn't see the problem as he personally runs old school dungeon crawls rather than see he is ignoring problems to boost PHB 2014 sales.

Or, and I can’t believe you aren’t even entertaining this very likely option, he has a better idea than you do of how common a given complaint actually is, and acts accordingly.

 

[Kurotowa]

I do think they could expand Second Wind even further, let the fighter use it to add d10 damage to an attack, etc, unify it with Indomitable, and let the BM use second wind to regain dice.

Repurposing a healing resource for a skill bonus is a reasonably acceptable sharing of purpose. Allow a healing resource to be used to deal damage and it will only and forever be an offensive power. Death is the best debuff and all that. Combat healing is already almost entirely ignored in favor of racing your opponent to zero HP.

Maneuvers get away with spending dice on skill checks because Superiority Dice are cheap. If we try to spread Second Wind into more things we're on the path of turning them into ersatz base class Superiority Dice, but worse because you get less of them. Better to keep it narrow and leave Battle Master for deliberately opting into that gameplay.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

if the rules said that halflings are on average 180-200lb or they are supernaturally glued to the floor, they yes, I have no problem with them flinging huge weapons at max speed.

If that is what you like, it is in your power to add that flavour.

This might be the reason why halflings prefer not to wear boots, because this intereferes with their sweat which in fact IS working as glue.

And this might als be the reason why halflings eat 8 to ten meals per day and tend to gather a bit of meat around their hips.

 

[Minigiant]

Or, and I can’t believe you aren’t even entertaining this very likely option, he has a better idea than you do of how common a given complaint actually is, and acts accordingly.

They are fixing the complaints now. The complaints aren't new. 5e is almost 10 years old. And they are fixing the fighter complants in the last playtest packet on fighter

So I'm giving the 5e Design team the benefit of the doubt that they didn't experience the complaints or didn't see them in research in the 9 years.

 

[Tony Vargas]

This is all nonsensical. If a Monk can do 1d10 or more brawling damage, so can a Fighter, frankly. And it's fine to design a subclass around it - but don't design them so they suck! That's just a waste of page count and everyone's time.

That's just idiocy.

At that point, Monk might as well be a Fighter sub-class.


Monk might as well be a Fighter sub-class.


Monk might as well be a Fighter sub-class.



Monk might as well be a Fighter sub-class.



Monk might as well be a Fighter sub-class.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

At that point, Monk might as well be a Fighter sub-class.


Monk might as well be a Fighter sub-class.


Monk might as well be a Fighter sub-class.



Monk might as well be a Fighter sub-class.



Monk might as well be a Fighter sub-class.

???

I mean, what I'm getting is you want Monk to be a Fighter subclass? I guess. Anything is better 1970s Monk continuing to exist.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Repurposing a healing resource for a skill bonus is a reasonably acceptable sharing of purpose. Allow a healing resource to be used to deal damage and it will only and forever be an offensive power. Death is the best debuff and all that. Combat healing is already almost entirely ignored in favor of racing your opponent to zero HP.

Which is both unfortunate, and not really all that smart. Offense isn't always the best choice.

For example, if you have 10 hp and inflict 3 damage with every hit, and are attacking a creature that has 10 hp and inflicts 3 damage with every hit, and your choices are (assuming each gets the same # of hits each round):

a) increase damage by 1 point. you kill the creature in 3 hits and take 9 damage
b) reduce damage by 1 point to you. You kill in 4 hits and take 8 damage

At the end of the battle, you have taken 1 less damage by focusing on defense rather than offense. The only way offense all the time works is if you recover all your HP after every battle. Which isn't how the game is designed to be played (even if I know people do).

 

[Vaalingrade]

if the rules said that halflings are on average 180-200lb or they are supernaturally glued to the floor, they yes, I have no problem with them flinging huge weapons at max speed.

The rules say they swing weapons just fine.

What the rules don't have at all is weapon speed, so it doesn't exist.

 

[Kurotowa]

Which is both unfortunate, and not really all that smart. Offense isn't always the best choice.

For example, if you have 10 hp and inflict 3 damage with every hit, and are attacking a creature that has 10 hp and inflicts 3 damage with every hit, and your choices are (assuming each gets the same # of hits each round):

Your example is about ongoing damage or damage reduction buffs against an opponent with the same HP and damage profile as a PC in a one on one duel. None of which are common circumstances in a D&D encounter.

Let's look at your example, but instead of ongoing +1 damage or +1 damage reduction, let's look at a 1d10 damage boost or a 1d10 heal in a fight you'll lose if you don't use it. With the heal you have to wait until you're almost dead, use it, and hope it buys you the extra turn or two needed to win. You'll probably win, but it takes a long time and you take a lot of damage. If you use it as a damage boost, you can win on the first turn without taking any damage, and freeing your future actions to go support your other party members.

That's the power of burst damage. It kills targets faster, which means you take less damage and gain more advantage in the action economy. Unless you're in a long boss fight, and I mean long, in equal amounts burst damage is always better than combat healing. For combat healing to be a thing it either has to be way cheaper or you need a dedicated healer whose damage is lower value. Which is not the paradigm that D&D works with.

 

[TwoSix]

For the Eldritch Knight, War Magic and Improved War Magic should be folded together at 7th level. Why restrict their fun ability to the virtually unplayed 18+ levels?