Give the Fighter more surges.

[satori01]

I think that would spruce up the Fighter. In one of my playtest sessions, the Fighter spent both of his Surges in a row, doing 40 HP of damage in two rounds, and bringing the Ogre to below the Sleep Spell HP threshold the Wizard had prepared to cast just for that trigger.

Coup de Grace.


It was awesome.


It was made even better, because even before they made the first Surge attack, the Fighter player in frustration, had said, " Screw it I am using both Surges, I don't care if that is all of them".
The fight with the Ogre had not been going well before. The surges (and the Crit ), changed the course of the battle.


I want to see more of the that from the Fighter.
It was cool to see someone pull a Babe Ruth and " pick their spot".
It was very cool to see a Fighter basically say " This Ends Now" .

Give them 5 surges, let a Fighter just dominate a few fights.
The fact the player controls them is cool.

Wanna blow all of them on the 1st fight.. Go ahead.
"wow Joe really went crazy back there"

" Yeah, I never seen anyone move so fast.. He. Ripped the head off that guy"

Hell..they should give the Fighter advantage on the bonus attack.

 

[thewok]

I imagine that the Fighter will get more surges as he levels up to keep him somewhat in line with the rogue's escalating sneak attack dice (though, that's another question itself) and the cleric's and wizard's more powerful spells.

 

[dirklancer]

I was thinking another option for the fighter would be to have alternate martial abilities that could be used instead of an extra attack, but that would only work if there were more surges available. Perhaps there could be a parry ability where an attacker gains disadvantage on the attack roll or a counterattack where the fighter can make an attack as a reaction when missed by an attack. Just a thought to add some options to the fighter.

 

[Sunseeker]

I imagine that the Fighter will get more surges as he levels up to keep him somewhat in line with the rogue's escalating sneak attack dice (though, that's another question itself) and the cleric's and wizard's more powerful spells.

I suspect this will likely be the case, or perhaps they are tied to some particular stat, such as str or con.

 

[MichaelSomething]

There could be a theme that gives more surges...

 

[YRUSirius]

I imagine that the Fighter will get more surges as he levels up to keep him somewhat in line with the rogue's escalating sneak attack dice (though, that's another question itself) and the cleric's and wizard's more powerful spells.

Maybe those who have played earlier playtests where surges have been implemented could confirm this?



On the topic of surges: What do you all think about encounter surges? Instead of 2/day give fighters 1/short rest? So a level 2 fighter could have more than 2 surges per day but not more than 1 per encounter?

Somehow I'd like to see those 2/day features (fighter's surge, halflings' luck) replaced by encounter/rest features. To me per day seems more artificial than per encounter/rest for martial features.

I would add one additional encounter/rest feature to the 1st level fighter to make him a little bit more interesting; something like the Essentials Power Strike power: Brutal Hit - Once per short rest, on a hit the fighter can automatically cause a critical hit without rolling a natural 20. Something like that. Thoughts?

-YRUSirius

 

[molepunch]

YRUSirius, I think it's important to note though that the Fighter's Surge provides an extra action on that turn, be that something heroic like a double hustle to rush to a dying ally, double potion drinking, or whatever. Personally I think it's a real shame if your suggested tweak goes through, or if it were changed to be some damage or attack buff.

I say leave it as extra actions and let the Fighter shine a little beyond extra attacks or bigger damage.

 

[YRUSirius]

No, no, I want to keep the fighter's surge intact.

Additionally I'd just like to see another feature added to a 1st level fighter, that would use the same kind of rest/encounter mechanic like my suggested idea for the surge. The surge would still be there and give one additional action but it would be limited per encounter/rest instead of per day. This new feature could be something like my Brutal Hit feature.

So a 2nd level fighter would be able to use each Brutal Hit and Surge feature one time per encounter and possibly up to like 10 times per day if you'd have 10 fights with short rests inbetween.

Yup, this encounter/rest feature is a concession to 4E mechanics but could make the fighter a little more interesting.

-YRUSirius

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Con mod + 1/2 level sounds good to me. Maybe give him other mechanics that draw from this number, ki pool style.

 

[B.T.]

Surges should be 1/encounter, in my opinion.