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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Obryn" data-source="post: 6070248" data-attributes="member: 11821">Here's a quick, back-of-the-envelope, largely undeveloped idea to give Fighters a better level of control or fiat without AEDU, necessary hit/damage penalties, or (hopefully) repetitiveness.It involves a level of metagame mechanics, and if you absolutely must never see a metagame mechanic, this will do no better for you.  But it may address some other "believability" issues.  There are no Daily powers at all, and it's an overall lower level of fiat due to some randomness.It's not entirely dissimilar to the Bo9S Crusader, but it's different enough in a few ways that I can't just use it as shorthand. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />(1) For at-will stuff, like I said before, I don't see much daylight between feats, stances, and at-will exploits.  Regardless, I think we can agree that the effects should be somewhat limited, but that you can get better at them through "X" whatever X might be.(2) Here's where it might be a dealbreaker for some - cards.  Non-collectible, duh.  The idea of using cards in some capacity in RPGs is hardly new, and I'm using them here.  One of the issues [MENTION=7635]Remathilis[/MENTION] brought up is, "every single combat things line up for X to happen."  Well, this avoids it.  You get a deck of ... 10?  20?  I dunno.(2a) The cards can be based on something; I think basing them on combat styles or weapon groups is fair, but they could also be assembled in some way by the player.  At the start of a fight, the Fighter draws a few, probably one at first but more at higher levels.(2b) The cards have maneuvers, effects, whatever.  They might also have prerequisites to set up mini-goals in combat.  Some might get better at higher levels, too.So ... it's kind of like encounter-based powers, but with a few differences.First, the inherent randomness makes for an easier-to-explain connection between the narrative and the metagame, so it's less obvious to the characters in the game-world (assuming here this matters) that they are doing the same tricks every fight.  The Fighter stays competent and capable.  Resources are limited because the Fighter can't re-use their effects.  So some examples might be...BLINDING BLOW: Use this before making an attack.  If it hits, the attack blinds the enemy for (1dX rounds/save-ends/whatever).  Special: If the enemy is somehow protected from getting blinded (due to head protection, being 10' or more taller than the Fighter, etc.) the attack takes a -2 penalty.SHOVE: After a successful attack, you can use this effect to push a target up to 1 size category larger than you back 5' and knock them prone.  If you are using a shield, the enemy takes 1d10 additional damage.GUARDIAN: Requirement: You must have hit the enemy in melee last round and this round.  Effect: If the enemy moves away from you or attacks any of your allies, you can make an immediate opportunity attack against them.  If it hits, this attack disrupts and cancels their action.  This lasts until you fail to successfully hit them in combat.(just examples)-O</blockquote>

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