D&D 5E Are some Fighting Styles worthless, and how could they be fixed?

[humble minion]

Maybe the extra reactions could be a subclass feature?

I've seen that done many times in 3rd party products. Kobold Press does a bit of it, for instance. I suppose the main exploit case is using multiple Counterspells in one round and completely shut down an encounter with magic-heavy enemies. But often i've seen restrictions on what you can use for the extra reaction as a balancing factor. Plus of course if we're talking additional reactions as a martial class thing, you'd need to do some heavy multiclassing to get there.

 

[James Gasik]

Maybe the extra reactions could be a subclass feature?

Technically, they already did this, with the Cavalier. And it comes online so late as to be useless.

Vigilant Defender​

Starting at 18th level, you respond to danger with extraordinary vigilance. In combat, you get a special reaction that you can take once on every creature's turn, except your turn. You can use this special reaction only to make an opportunity attack, and you can't use it on the same turn that you take your normal reaction.

 

[Undrave]

don't take this directed at you personally, but i think that thinking of restricting these sorts of features exclusively to a specific class or subclass is exactly the kind of conservative attitude that has undercut a ton of the potential of martials.

The thing with extra reaction is that thy are cool, but also an important source of delay that make fights last longer. That's why I prefer a buy-in option instead of a default option.

Maybe the fighting style could give you more reaction so it's not class bound?

 

[James Gasik]

There was also this, but apparently it never made it out of an Unearthed Arcana article.

• Tunnel Fighter (UA). As a bonus action, you can enter a defensive stance that lasts until the start of your next turn. While in your defensive stance, you can make opportunity attacks without using your reaction, and you can use your reaction to make a melee attack against a creature that moves more than 5 feet while within your reach.