Concept Help - Duelist

[Quartz]

It is much, much better. The limiting factor of Unarmored Defense is that to get a decent AC out of it you have to have a very good score in two Abilities.

I disagree. It's not limiting if you're going to have good scores in those abilities anyway. Consider a 4th level barbarian with Str 16 Dex 16 and Con 16: she can have AC 18 with a shield and no armour. which is only two behind the fighter's AC 20 with plate and shield. If you allow the fighter an unarmoured defence feat then he drops two stat points for an initial +2 to AC, rising to +6 at high levels, but they still need a good Dex for a top AC and they still need a good Con for the HPs.

But it's about the play-style you want: if you don't want fighter-types clunking around in plate then you need an alternative, and using the Proficiency Bonus fits very well.

 

[Afrodyte]

I disagree. It's not limiting if you're going to have good scores in those abilities anyway. Consider a 4th level barbarian with Str 16 Dex 16 and Con 16: she can have AC 18 with a shield and no armour. which is only two behind the fighter's AC 20 with plate and shield. If you allow the fighter an unarmoured defence feat then he drops two stat points for an initial +2 to AC, rising to +6 at high levels, but they still need a good Dex for a top AC and they still need a good Con for the HPs.

But it's about the play-style you want: if you don't want fighter-types clunking around in plate then you need an alternative, and using the Proficiency Bonus fits very well.

This is an option I'd actually love to have. I was able to make Porthos pretty easily, but I would like more options to make him harder to hit than shoving him in clunky heavy armor. Being able to add his proficiency bonus to his AC when wearing light or no armor would be a great thing to have. I'd actually prefer it as a replacement for the current duelist fighting style.

 

[mips42]

I would love to play this type of fighter (and he IS a fighter) and I would think he would be very maneuverable, so maybe add 'at 3rd level you may Disengage as a Bonus Action once per short rest or long rest.'
And then add 1 for 5th, 9th, 12th and 17th (at 17th level you'd be disengaging 5 times per short or long) and then at 20th it'd be at-will. Or, you could disengage once per dex-bonus-plus (+3 = 3 disengages).
Just a thought but, in my opinion, this guy needs to be able to move.

 

[Khaalis]

I would love to play this type of fighter (and he IS a fighter) and I would think he would be very maneuverable, so maybe add 'at 3rd level you may Disengage as a Bonus Action once per short rest or long rest.'
And then add 1 for 5th, 9th, 12th and 17th (at 17th level you'd be disengaging 5 times per short or long) and then at 20th it'd be at-will. Or, you could disengage once per dex-bonus-plus (+3 = 3 disengages).
Just a thought but, in my opinion, this guy needs to be able to move.

As an option I was also thinking of simply using the rogue's Cunning Action, but making swapping Dodge for Hide.

Then again over in THIS THREAD there has been a lot of bickering over the whole concept. I'm torn over making this a fighter archetype or making a full-on Variant Fighter (Light Fighter) to cover the concepts of Light/No Armor fighters. It would have subclasses of: Brawler, Duelist, Gallant, Musketeer and Swashbuckler.