D&D 5E Multiple Martial Fighting Styles

[CreamCloud0]

Fighting styles are what really help focus your martial character's chosen method of battle, be you swinging your battleaxe with great weapon fighting, sniping with archery or tanking up with defense, but i feel like they're woefully underused with most classes that can access them only ever getting one through standard progression and that one choice defines their ongoing fighting choices for the rest of their play.

Martials would benefit so much and be so much more interesting if they gained multiple fighting styles over the course of their progression, as well as letting some light shine on the more niche styles that are interesting but a little too situational to be your pick when you're only going to get one of these things, stuff like blind fighting or protection.

I'd probably make extra fighting styles synonomous with extra attack, maybe not at the same levels but just in quantity, ranger and paladin with their +1 extra attack will end up with two fighting styles, a fighter that hypothetically made it all the way to 20th level would have 5 styles to work with, making them truly masters of combat.

I'd also just remove class assigned fighting styles, let the ranger take great weapon fighter, the fighter take divine warrior, or the paladin druidic warrior, i get that there are themes there somewhat but i don't think the benefits of the limitation outweigh the cons, i think the 'magical' fighting styles are a great way to let martials dip into cantrips without having to invest an entire feat or level to do it, i'd add 'bardic/arcane/sorcerous warrior' fighting styles for the bard, wizard and sorcerer spell lists too, (leaving warlock out because eldritch blast)

what are your thoughts on giving martials more fighting styles, are there niches that don't currently have a fighting style they you think should do? (superior flanker: provide and recieve a larger bonus when flanking an enemy, opportunistic: your opportunity attack have advantage to hit)

 

[jmartkdr2]

One side effectof this is: people will find the synergies and that will allow a whole new avenue of powergaming. Like someone noticing that darts are both throw (thus getting +2 damage from the throwing style) and ranged (thus getting +2 to hit from the archery style). I'm playing this combo now and while it's not broken I do hit pretty hard.

 

[Corinnguard]

Martials would benefit so much and be so much more interesting if they gained multiple fighting styles over the course of their progression, as well as letting some light shine on the more niche styles that are interesting but a little too situational to be your pick when you're only going to get one of these things, stuff like blind fighting or protection.

What about a series of thematic combat maneuvers instead? Like the ones in Level Up.

 

[jgsugden]

If I were to design the fighter over again, I'd design it to have:

• Maneuvers - little tricks they can pull off that function like Battlemaster Maneuvers.
• Stances - Ways to shift between a more defensive stance, a more aggressive stance, a stealth stance, a mobility stance - each one providing different benefits.
• Auras - Battlefield impacting capabilities they invoke that allow them to focus their attention on "mundane" battlefield control.

You'd end up with the fighter feeling like they - through training - exert control over the battle in a variety of ways.

I'd have a Warlord subclass that gets to lead allies and give them benefits, a Battlemaster that gets augmented Maneuvers, and a Lightly Armored focus that specializes in mobility - to give us a Fencing fighter.

 

[CreamCloud0]

One side effectof this is: people will find the synergies and that will allow a whole new avenue of powergaming. Like someone noticing that darts are both throw (thus getting +2 damage from the throwing style) and ranged (thus getting +2 to hit from the archery style). I'm playing this combo now and while it's not broken I do hit pretty hard.

maybe, but (while not in the intent of turning this into another martial/caster thread) i feel that the martial classes getting access to these combos deserve to get them and be superior in combat as they're typically more limited in other areas.

edit: i'm typically of the opinion that some classes should simply be better at combat, yes, everyone gets to be adequate at combat but there should be certain classes that excell at it, the fighter doesn't get social abilities, or anything to aid exploration, their entire skillset is basically geared towards hitting things so i think that by all things being equal they should be more powerful at putting enemies six feet under, if that's achieved by stacking three fighting styles to become a murder machine with throwing weapons then i think that's good and fair.