Help me make the fighter tick the boxes

[Sacrosanct]

I didn't want to hijack the other thread on discussions of the fighter since this isn't 5e specific. And of course the caveat that you can't please anyone. As an old-school guy, I prefer my fighters to not have a "spell list" of powers because I'm used to just doing that narrating during game play. But I recognize how a lot of folks do prefer to have a list. So while I'm designing GEAS, this is what I came up with so far.

A few things to make the pages make sense:

• AP: Action Point. The system uses action points to power moves and abilities
• PD: Proficiency die. +1 PD means you add an additional proficiency die to your roll, improving chances of success
• WD: Weapon die.
• Response: Kinda like D&D's reaction
• Vigor: Vigor is a resource that tracks both the damage you take, and how you power many of your abilities and spells. It all comes from one pool.
• DR: Damage resistance. How much you reduce damage from attacks by

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[MichaelSomething]

Why include a power list if you don't like it? It's YOUR system! Why not instead have a list of ways to modify an attack and guidelines to add a modifier based on the improv of the PC??

 

[Sacrosanct]

Why include a power list if you don't like it? It's YOUR system! Why not instead have a list of ways to modify an attack and guidelines to add a modifier based on the improv of the PC??

The older way is my preference, but admittedly that's been changing recently. After 40 years...

WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME! lol

 

[GMMichael]

As an old-school guy, I prefer my fighters to not have a "spell list" of powers because I'm used to just doing that narrating during game play. But I recognize how a lot of folks do prefer to have a list. So while I'm designing GEAS, this is what I came up with so far.

Agreed. Fighters should not have spell lists or power lists. They should use all the combat rules, and better than other characters.

 

[James Gasik]

Then perhaps the issue is that the combat rules could stand to be more robust?

 

[Composer99]

Fighters (when they're a distinct martial profession/class/category) are, to my mind, masters of arms and armour, and of combat tactics and techniques. Ideally, player character fighters ought to have features that mechanically instantiate this concept or theme.

As such, I'm of the mind that fighters ought to have tactical capabilities - "powers" or "manoeuvres" as it were - in proportion to the granularity or level of detail of the combat subsystem/minigame in a TTRPG.

If the game doesn't treat combat as a separate minigame, or treats it as a general conflict minigame (such that the same rules apply to many other kinds of conflicts), then such tactical capabilities would be inappropriate. (In such games, combat either isn't an important part of gameplay, or is best handled using theatre of the mind, or is resolved entirely at a "strategic" layer, as it were.) A broad feature such as rerolling a combat-related die roll is sufficient.

If combat is its own minigame but has a very simple, standardised procedure (such as B/X-OSE combat), I'd be comfortable giving fighters a very simple "once per round you can deal a little extra damage to one enemy, or alternatively knock them prone or shove them back a short distance" kind of effect, but not much more than that; something as straightforward as the fighter features in Worlds Without Number.

In WotC-era D&D, with its very detailed combat procedure, it's certainly more appropriate for fighters to have sets of "manoeuvres", whether fighter-specific or better access to generally-available manoeuvres. Another game that springs to mind is Riddle of Steel or its spiritual successor, Blade of the Iron Throne. I don't own either game (thought I might spring for the latter), but I'm led to understand that they use manoeuvres, albeit in a very different mechanical context from D&D.

Anyway, all that is to say that how much detail should go into the GEAS Warrior depends on how detailed combat is in that game. The Warrior presented in the OP certainly seems suitable for something fairly granular.

 

[Corinnguard]

Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition has something like your Action Point mechanic to power some of the class features and maneuvers of it's martial classes. Exertion. The amount of Exertion a martial class can have is twice their proficiency bonus. An A5e Fighter at key levels can reduce the Exertion cost of a single maneuver by 1 and increase the size of their Exertion pool by 1.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

My idea would be to use some disciplines from the Mystic UA, change ''psi points'' to ''stamina'' or whatever.
Reduce the number of points and disciplines the Warrior gets and only give them Extra attack once (maybe at 3rd level?).
Psychic Focus becomes Stances. You can only use the powers (Exploits?) of a Discipline if you are in the appropriate Stance, which you can switch as a Bonus Action (or not, if you dont use them).
Keep the Psionic Mastery feature to let the Warrior create its own combo attack by mixing various powers in the same attack, X times per day.


Warrior's Disciplines List
Aura Sight -> Read Your Foes
Brute Force
Celerity
Iron Durability
Mantle of Command
Mantle of Courage
Mantle of Fear
Mantle of Fury
Nomadic Arrow -> Peerless Archery
Precognition -> Marvelous Planning

Weapon Master: Regain Stamina on a crit, crit on 19-20, etc
Warlord: add Mantle of Joy and Mantle of Awe, -1 cost reduction for Mantle powers,
Primal Warrior: add Giant Growth and Crown of Fury, steal the features of Samurai from Xanathar.
Spellblade: add Psionic Weapon, Nomad Step and Mastery of X element.

 

[Darth Solo]

Easiest way to fix D&D-ish Fighters? Give them more attacks AND make them better at attacking than every other class. They're fighters right? Every level of progression they gain either a +1 to hit or another attack while the other classes do not. When an NPC or monster shows up for a fight, the other players should sit back and let the Fighter's player go to work. THAT is what's been lost from the Fighter: the fierce and precise nature of exceptional combat ability.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Easiest way to fix D&D-ish Fighters? Give them more attacks AND make them better at attacking than every other class. They're fighters right? Every level of progression they gain either a +1 to hit or another attack while the other classes do not. When an NPC or monster shows up for a fight, the other players should sit back and let the Fighter's player go to work. THAT is what's been lost from the Fighter: the fierce and precise nature of exceptional combat ability.

I do that through what's called a "core die". Every class has one, it's what your health and damage with weapons is based off of. So if fighters have a d10, they use that for health and their weapon damage is based on a d10, compared to say, a wizard who might only have a d6 for those things.