Fighter Subclass: The Bravura! (INT-based, tactical, non-magical)

[mellored]

Well, 5' is the default. But you can also use your poetry in motion, so really 10' to 15' range. Yes, you are "only" moving but you are also doing it before the event that triggered it. In that sense it's like Shield. It's actually quite (situationally) powerful...an enemy tries to slip through an open space to attack your wizard, or to escape combat, and you can block it.

Ah. I missed that you stepped into their space.
That works. And you can't use it to run away and kite attackers so that's good.

Though I would avoid OA's to keep out-of-turn rolling down. And still possibly increase the distance a bit.

In the previous example, you block the guy and he tries to go around you. Action Surge, Attack of Opportunity, and maybe even a 3rd reaction depending on what else is going on. And none of them count toward your max or cost you attacks on your next turn.

Spending your action surge IS costing you attacks. 3 attacks for 2 reactoins. (4 at level 20, but meh...)
Maybe allow them to be spread out?

Hmm...

Level 3:
*You can expend your action surge to gain special extra reactions that you can use on any turn before your next short rest. This increases to 2 reactions and 2 poetry in motions at level 5, 3 at level 11, and 4 at level 20. You can only spend 1 special reaction per turn and it does count towards your limit.
(Plus the normal attack trade)

Level 10:
Tactical Positioning
When you roll initiative, and are not surprised, you can move up to half your speed before the battle starts.


Also, maybe make Poetry in Motion take a reaction? Possibly make it a contingency? (And make it a little further since it takes reactions. Possibly bump the number of contingencies by 1 as well.).

Poetry in Motion
If you are not in heavy armor, you can spend a reaction to move 15' in order to be able to meet a different reaction positional requirement. Such as moving to within 5' of an ally in order to use Protection fighting style. You still need to spend the second reaction as normal. This movement does not provoke Attacks of Opportunity.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

This is purely an opinion and makes no difference on how the subclass plays so feel free to disregard it. To me So Crazy It Just Might Work had the ring of a Hail Mary and would make a better title for a feature of the wild magic sorcerer than for a feature that emulates planning by a master tactician. I would name it something like I Love It When a Plan Comes Together instead.

 

[Guest 6801328]

This is purely an opinion and makes no difference on how the subclass plays so feel free to disregard it. To me So Crazy It Just Might Work had the ring of a Hail Mary and would make a better title for a feature of the wild magic sorcerer than for a feature that emulates planning by a master tactician. I would name it something like I Love It When a Plan Comes Together instead.

I agree that it would be a more appropriate name for a 'hail mary' kind of ability. But I love the name so much that honestly I would re-write the ability rather than rename it.

But, in defense of the status quo, you can also envision the ability as the Bravura!(tm) saying, "Ok, guys, I know this sounds nutty, but trust me..."

Really how I wanted to write it is that you have to make a trade-off to benefit from it (sort of like getting 1d4 on your Dex saving throw but landing prone) and having it scale in effectiveness based on the number of companions who make the trade-off. I.e., the plan works better when more people participate. But I couldn't figure out how to do that without penalizing small groups relative to large groups.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I agree that it would be a more appropriate name for a 'hail mary' kind of ability. But I love the name so much that honestly I would re-write the ability rather than rename it.

But, in defense of the status quo, you can also envision the ability as the Bravura!(tm) saying, "Ok, guys, I know this sounds nutty, but trust me..."

Really how I wanted to write it is that you have to make a trade-off to benefit from it (sort of like getting 1d4 on your Dex saving throw but landing prone) and having it scale in effectiveness based on the number of companions who make the trade-off. I.e., the plan works better when more people participate. But I couldn't figure out how to do that without penalizing small groups relative to large groups.

Definitely don't rewrite the ability based on my comment! It's good at is. Just throwing out my perspective for consideration.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Definitely don't rewrite the ability based on my comment! It's good at is. Just throwing out my perspective for consideration.

And I thank you for it. The responses have been both appreciated and valuable, even if I haven't incorporated all of the suggestions.

 

[mellored]

Really how I wanted to write it is that you have to make a trade-off to benefit from it (sort of like getting 1d4 on your Dex saving throw but landing prone) and having it scale in effectiveness based on the number of companions who make the trade-off. I.e., the plan works better when more people participate. But I couldn't figure out how to do that without penalizing small groups relative to large groups.

I'm against being more effective with more participants thing. But I do like trade-offs.


You can take a d6 penalty on an ability score roll. If you do, the next ally who makes an ability check towards the same goal within the next 10 minutes, gains a bonus equal to the penalty you took. The bonus must cannot be used on the same ability score that you used. For instance, you might take penalty on a persuasion check when you try and talk your way past some guards, and your ally may use the bonus to try and sneak by them.

 

[mellored]

A little off topic, but i wonder how well this would work as a rogue sub-class.

Trade away 3d6 sneak attack damage (effectively 1 attack), for an extra reaction.
With maybe some "contingencies" taking more or less dice. Like making an enemy provoke an OA is 5d6.

Runing around the battlefield and messing with people seems right up their ally.

 

[Guest 6801328]

A little off topic, but i wonder how well this would work as a rogue sub-class.

Trade away 3d6 sneak attack damage (effectively 1 attack), for an extra reaction.
With maybe some "contingencies" taking more or less dice. Like making an enemy provoke an OA is 5d6.

Runing around the battlefield and messing with people seems right up their ally.

Yup, I was pondering exactly this. Each ability has an Xd6 cost removed from your next Sneak Attack.

I don't feel Rogues are as well suited as Fighters in terms of class design, but it would still work quite well and be flavorful/fun.

 

[Guest 6801328]

...how about a Monk variant? I could see a real Captain America type of character built on the Monk chassis.

- Ki doesn't regenerate each turn, so that's a more limited resource.
- However, bonus actions are valuable to all monks, so that could be used to fuel reactions. Also their one extra attack.

So by 5th level you could have a default of three extra reactions each round (2 attacks, 1 bonus), plus more if you want to spend Ki.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I like the idea of it as a Rogue subclass. The original class was more like a Fighter but I think you could capture the feel of a Warlord with the Rogue as the main class. The Rogue has a number of read the battlefield and reacted quickly abilities that fit well with the tactical genius theme of the subclass.

I don't know if it would make a difference but a Rogue Bravura would have less armor and weapons than a Fighter Bravura and would be missing the protection fighting style (which I think is important to the Bravura but it could be added as another contingency). I haven't played a 5th Edition Rogue but perhaps some special consideration would be needed if they use their reaction frequently for Uncanny Dodge.