DMG PrC 2.0: The Duelist -- Not Just Intelligence Anymore

[comrade raoul]

Edit 12/27/06: In order to accomodate even more character archetypes, I've let duelists pick a mental ability score of their choice to use for AC and damage boosts. That way, tactical fencers, intuitive martial artists, and dashing swordsmen all get accomodated quickly and easily, with one prestige class ideally suitable for all campaigns. My main worry is that it might be too good a benefit for monks (who can effectively add Wisdom + duelist levels to unarmored AC, plus get Wisdom to damage at 5th level, plus get access to fighter-only feats), but at least it doesn't improve unarmed combat or flurry abilities, and if you think melee-focused monks are on the weak side anyway, maybe this won't be much of a problem.

In any case, I'd love to know what you think.

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I'm redesigning some or all of the prestige classes in the DMG, for streamlining and playability. The first one I'm posting is the duelist, which I think needs a redesign particularly badly.

The guiding principle here is simplicity. You'll see that I jettison the hodgepodge of mobility boosts in favor of a small number of unified, steadily increasing abilities. The overall image should be of a disciplined, cunning, agile warrior who is highly dangerous in single combat. If successfully designed, my duelist should:

• Accomodate a range of fighting styles.
• Allow combatants to wield lighter weapons and wear light armor without compromising their ability to deal and avoid damage, without greatly increasing complexity or committing players to a small range of unorthodox tactics.
• Make combatants more effective than traditional fighters when focusing on a single opponent, but somewhat less effective against groups.

Here's the revised duelist.

Prerequisites:

• Base Attack Bonus: +5.
• Skills: Jump 3 ranks, Tumble 3 ranks.
• Feats: Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Weapon Finesse.

Hit Die: d10.
Base Attack Progression: Good (as fighter).
Good Saves: Reflex.
Class Skills: Balance, Bluff, Escape Artist, Jump, Listen, Perform, Sense Motive, Spot, Tumble.
Skill Points Per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

[b]The Duelist[/b]
1st    Canny defense, weapons training, improved dodge +1
2nd    Riposte
3rd    Bonus feat
4th    Improved dodge +2
5th    Insightful strike
6th    Bonus feat
7th    Improved dodge +3
8th    Greater riposte
9th    Bonus feat
10th   Improved dodge +4

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Duelists gain proficiency with all light or one-handed simple and martial melee weapons (including those that can be used as thrown weapons), the hand crossbow, and the whip. They gain no proficiency with any armor or shields.

Most of a duelist's fighting techniques require a great deal of mobility to function properly. While wearing medium or heavy armor, wielding a shield, or carrying a medium or heavy load, the duelist loses the benefit of the following class abilities: parry, improved dodge, riposte, insightful strike, and greater riposte.

Canny Defense (Ex)
You gain a bonus to your Armor Class equal to your Intelligence bonus (if any) or your duelist class level, whichever is lower. This bonus to AC applies even when you're flat-footed, but you lose this bonus when you are immobilized or helpless.

Weapons Training (Ex)
Your superior martial discipline means that you qualify for feats that require a minimum level of fighter (such as Weapon Specialization) as if you had a a fighter level equal to your duelist level. These effective fighter levels stack with any fighter levels you might have, so a fighter 6/duelist 4 counts as a 10th level fighter for purposes of determining which feats she can select.

Improved Dodge (Ex)
When wielding a melee weapon you're proficient with, the AC bonus you gain from the Dodge feat increases by +1 (for a total bonus of +2 against the opponent you choose). It increases by an additional +1 at 4th, 7th, and 10th levels.

Riposte (Ex)
Your tactics, skill, and speed allow you to quickly exploit openings your opponents leave when they attack. If an opponent takes a melee full attack action and targets you with each attack he makes as part of that action, and misses with every attack, you may take an attack of opportunity against that opponent. You can only use your riposte ability once per round, regardless of the number of attacks of opportunity you could normally make.

At 8th level, this ability improves. Now, the first time in each round that an opponent misses you with a melee attack, that opponent provokes an attack of opportunity from you (even if that opponent makes other, successful attacks against you during the round). You can still use this ability at most once per round.

Bonus Feats
You may select a feat of her choice from the fighter's list of bonus feats at 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels. These feats are in addition to the feats you normally gains from advancing in levels. You must meet all normal prerequisites for the feat you select.

Insightful Strike (Ex)
When wielding a melee weapon that you can also use with the Weapon Finesse feat, you gain a bonus to your damage rolls equal to your Intelligence bonus.

 

[Rhun]

I have to say, I like it. I've always thought the Duelist needed to be reworked, as it has always seemed fairly weak to me. Very nice.

 

[Fieari]

Other than the improved dodge, what makes this character less effective at fighting groups as opposed to single individuals

 

[comrade raoul]

Improved Dodge does a lot of work here.

 

[Quartz]

I think the Acrobatic Charge is necessary to counter the Knight's abilities. I also like the Elaborate Parry and Enhanced Mobility abilities. Yes the abilities are disparate, but they are also useful.

 

[comrade raoul]

Yes the abilities are disparate, but they are also useful.

That's part of the motivation for the bonus feats: you can emulate lots of those abilities with feats like Improved Initiative, Mobility, or Spring Attack. Sure, you can't get Acrobatic Charge, but maybe it would make a good new feat. I don't agree with you about Elaborate Parry, though: I think it's just a badly designed ability, in the context of the class--it's an awesome ability, but it's like the only awesome ability the duelist gets, which means that when the duelist hits seventh level he basically takes a big jump in power. (Wow, now I can take a -4 attack penalty for a +9 to +12 boost to my AC, depending on my level!) Part of the reason improved dodge is there is to emulate much of the defensive power of elaborate parry in a more gradual, thematically focused way.

The big motivation for the redesign, though, is that I wanted the duelist to retain the fighter's characteristic ability to model all sorts of different approaches to combat. I want the duelist prestige class to satisfy a large range of people who want to play a skillful, lightly armored fighter; and I think hard-wiring the mobility benefits that the core duelist gets unnecessarily limits the range of archetypes the duelist can and should be able to model.

Here's another way to put it: you're (I mean this in the sense of the impersonal "you," not you, Quartz) trying to capture a fine balance. You want a class that accomodates a lot of variations of light fighters--ideally you want to capture the whole range of light fighters that people might want to play--but you don't want to do it by just taking the fighter, figuring out what, mechanically, he loses by giving up heavy armor and his shield or two-handed weapon, and just boosting certain values to compensate, so that he plays just like a heavier fighter but looks a little different. I think the image I described above captures the heart of what most people want from their duelist, so I made sure to model that with the improved dodge and riposte abilities, and then tried to accomodate variations within that theme by including the bonus feats.

 

[smootrk]

I like what you are doing. I have done something similar for a PRC from the FR Unapproachable East book (Thayan Slaver). Too much work for me to jump up and re-do all of them (or at least the ones I feel need to be rethought), so I just work on them when I or a player expresses interest in the theme developed by the PRC.

Feel free to incorporate it if applicible. See my signature. In the file is a short discourse on the rationales for the changes that I made.

 

[Quartz]

The big motivation for the redesign, though, is that I wanted the duelist to retain the fighter's characteristic ability to model all sorts of different approaches to combat. I want the duelist prestige class to satisfy a large range of people who want to play a skillful, lightly armored fighter;

This is handled by the Ranger class.

and I think hard-wiring the mobility benefits that the core duelist gets unnecessarily limits the range of archetypes the duelist can and should be able to model.

It's a Prestige Class, it's supposed to be hard-wired. You sacrifice versatility for focus.

 

[Machiavelli]

I love that you eliminated Elaborate Parry and spread its advantages out across the levels; good insight there. The (very cool) Acrobatic Charge ability can be had with the Swashbuckler base class, so dropping it from the Duelist does not eliminate it from the game.

It seems that with the availability of the Swashbuckler, the standard Duelist becomes thematically unnecessary, even though the mechanical advantages are not the same. Are you designing this rework with the swashbuckler in mind, or with the idea that the swashbuckler is entirely separate and not available to the characters that would select the Duelist?

 

[Ciaran]

This is handled by the Ranger class.


It's a Prestige Class, it's supposed to be hard-wired. You sacrifice versatility for focus.

The Ranger class is far more "hard-wired" than most prestige classes. I certainly wouldn't use it as a default class for lightly-armed fighter concepts!