Fighter Archetype - Weapon Master (5e homebrew, testers wanted)

[Cap'n Kobold]

I am having a lot of trouble picturing this. If it doesn't mean switching all the time, how does it work? More importantly, how would it 'look in the world'; a just as important distinction in my mind.

Pretty much as I suggested, with the fighter pulling out one weapon, hitting once with it then stowing it and drawing another, making a single hit with that one, putting it away, swapping again etc.

If that seems a little weird, you could always just dual-wield two different weapons and alternate between them. That will work up to mid levels.

I am also curious b/c I picture a weapon master being great with their chosen weapon, not swapping all the time - but perhaps I am missing something. I do love the extra effort you have gone to to make every weapon unique though. (And again, might benefit from temporary Properties rather than all completely new features).

I think its less a master of a weapon, and more a master of any and all weapons. Same words, different perspective.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

It's not as big of a deal as it's made out to be. Ranged attacks and armor class don't even matter since you would be using dex anyway if you were going a ranged fighter. Initiative and save, sure, but this is a matter of opportunity costs here. To get high ability scores in both Str and Dex, you have to pull them from somewhere else, which usually means lower Con or Wis, which some fighters might do regardless of finesse. I promise you this doesn't matter as much in gameplay as you might think. Roll some dice and see for yourself.

I've already experienced that in game. Those feats are not that big of a deal, especially if you are two weapon fighting, which is the obvious route to go with this which gives you the best parts of those feats anyway. The loss of reliable Str based combos is huge. There will be many times you will want to use those if you dump Str and actively gimp yourself.

There's a fair amount of calculations regarding the assorted benefits of ability scores in the threads discussing the merits of the two-handed weapon vs dual-wielding fighting styles.

Even a melee-based fighter benefits from having a bow or other effective ranged weapon available to them. It may not be the primary focus of a class but nonoptimal situations can't just be handwaved away. Being able to relatively safely dump a stat allows you to focus more on more important stats. As you yourself point out, having both Str and Dex high requires you to pull resources from other important abilities.
As I read it, an optimised weapon master can still make use of Str combo bonuses if they have to get the specific effect. They will get a lower bonus to hit, and it will do less damage, but the effects are the same and they can still base the save required off Dex, even for a str-based combo bonus.

No, you cannot receive a combo bonus by using the same weapon.

Ah. I thought that the first hit starts the combo, and its only the second that gets a combo bonus?

... You have a very broad definition of "extremely random". There are countless on-hit effects in the game and the class was built around that concept so I don't know why you bring that up since it was stated in the very beginning that it's not supposed to be a resource class.

It was an observation about the mechanics. While there are indeed other "on-hit" effects in the game, there aren't any other archetypes based around a single mechanic, that is dependent upon them. This makes the class very random-based. It could be good for some people, bad for others.

If it's not for you, then that's fine, but a lot of these points you brought up are very inaccurate with overstated concerns.

Apologies. Which ones?

 

[CyanideSprite]

In 4e there was a fighter build that allowed you to have 3 weapons on hand and switch between them and each had a specific benefit based on what kind of weapon it was. This is the same concept except with rules for each specific weapon.

As I read it, an optimised weapon master can still make use of Str combo bonuses if they have to get the specific effect.

Not without bonuses to hit. The Str ones are balanced to be stronger in more situations than the Dex ones while the Dex combos are more situational and tend to deal less under most scenarios. There might be a few exploitable builds but those can be balanced when they're found.

they will get a lower bonus to hit, and it will do less damage, but the effects are the same and they can still base the save required off Dex, even for a str-based combo bonus.

"They will get a lower bonus to hit and it will do less damage"

... Those are two very huge drawbacks especially when many of the Str based combos scale off your Str modifier or require you to land a hit in the first place. That second statement is a good point and I can instead make the save based on Str or Dex depending on which combo effect is used.

there aren't any other archetypes based around a single mechanic

What? Yes there are. The classes are remarkably streamlined this edition and almost uniformly work on one mechanic such as Rogues with Sneak Attack (which is a one note on-hit effect), Warlocks with Eldritch Blast (multiple on-hits), and even the Champion Fighter which is basically just crit fishing. Are you going to call those equally "very random-based"? Crit fishing by the way, I think is improved through the mechanics introduced with this archetype (Alternating from Scimitar to something else that has a crit enhanced combo effect).

 

[Connorsrpg]

Given its mastery of several weapons AND the fact there is a feat called this (as pointed out in the Database for [MENTION=2167]Khaalis[/MENTION]'s Weapon Master (now Specialist) http://www.enworld.org/forum/5earchetypes/showentry.php?e=28&catid=1), I suggest you go with a new name for this guy too.

Versatile Fighter maybe?

 

[CyanideSprite]

It's "Master of Arms" technically. I called it Weapon Master from the start in reference to the 4e version but since there's a feat called that I changed it.