D&D 5E (2014) Next up is Fighter, what do you want from UA?

[steeldragons]

Brainstorm (or brainfart), could they get away with [i.e. would it make people happy/satisfied] making a Fighter subclass "domain"?

I don't mean adding spells, magical abilities, et al. like the clerics...but something thematic, non-magical, like that.

So, you'd have the Champion: generic mechanics; Battlemaster: maneuver/superioirty dice mechanic; Eldritch Knight: 1/3rd caster mechanic, arcane/evoker...

Then, Crusader: 1/3rd caster mechanic, divine/cleric;

and, just hypothetically [and to maybe, hopefully, silence of Warlordacy], let's call it "a Warlord": with a -let's just call it- "Leadership" [domain] mechanic...I don't know what that mechanic is, something where all [preferably non-magical] features that deal with leading people, maybe some inspiration somehow [but not Bardic Inspiration dice type stuff], "strategizing"/movement based stuff, some Charisma and/or Intelligence based stuff. I mean, the Fighter subclasses get, what, 5 features? You'd only have to come up with 5 individual leader-y things...I'm not explaining this right...

OO! "AREA EFFECT"!!! There's your next "generic enough/but more complex" moving part for a Fighter subclass...make a Dwarven defender, make a Warlod, make a bunch of other things I'm sure I've never heard of...

The Area Effect mechanic Fighter subclass. Champions hit their targets/just fight. Battlemasters use maneuvers. EK's use magic... and the..."Warlords" [or something better] use area effect mechanics -call them "Stances" or "Mantles" or whatever...actually mantles might be too magical sounding, but you get the gist- to effect more than just their immediate target or someone else within 5' (as, I believe is the extent of the BM's maneuver reach), but can command, say, a 20' diameter area...increasing through levels to maybe 30 or 50' [?]. Maybe "Commander" is a more generic/broadly acceptable subclass name (keeping with the other Fighter options) than "Warlord" [which comes with a mule-train full of assumption and expectation baggage].

That's it. I've sold myself...the Fighter subclass we all need (and have been waiting for) is the Area Effect Fighter.

Done. Get to work, people.

 

[SmokingSkull]

For me I'd like to see a dedicated "Slayer" fighter, akin to the one from Essentials. The Champion is nothing like a Slayer, the Slayer had a combination of passive effects, on demand damage and mobility. Battlemaster isn't like it either, too many maneuvers plus the ribbons don't fit what a Slayer is. Other than that I dunno, maybe some kind of Knight or Defender? Fighter is in an odd place subclass wise, not sure what you could do for it.

 

[steeldragons]

Fighter subclass: Commander

3rd: Commanding Stance: When you take the Commander Archetype, your presence and obvious display of expertise and fortitude exudes to all who can see you, effecting an area around you of 10' radius. All potential opponents must make a Charisma save to be DC8 + your Prof. bonus + your Cha. mod.[minimum +1] to willingly enter or pass through that area for fear of having to engage you in combat. You also double your Strength bonus to rolls against being grappled, prone, or otherwise forcibly moved from your position, and double Charisma bonus in lieu of other ability modifiers against any effect that attempts to instill the frightened condition or levels of exhaustion. You may employ your Commanding Stance for a total of Strength mod. rounds before requiring a short or long rest.

7th: Secondary Strike: Once on your turn, regardless of how many attacks per turn you make or Fighting Style, when you use the Attack action you make an additional single Attack to another target up to 15' away from you. Whether this is grabbing and throwing a secondary weapon (dagger, spear, etc...), getting off another arrow or crossbow bolt, winging your longsword or battle axe [or shield ] across the battlefield, launch yourself -off an ally or opponent- in a flying leap, or whatever makes sense within the fiction. When you use your secondary strike, you are allowed 10' additional movement and automatically begin your next turn with your weapon retrieved/in hand/reloaded, as necessary. You may only use Secondary Strike once before requiring a short or long rest.

10th: Steely Resolve: Your fortifying presence and apparent resolve assist your allies in steeling their resolve. When you use your Indomitable feature [base class feature at 9th level] the benefit is extended to allies within' a 30' radius who can see you, i.e. Allies within the area of effect can reroll a failed saving throw. You may initially use this feature once between long rests. As with Indomitable, your may use this feature twice between long rests at 13th level and 3 times at 17th.

15th: Commanding Stance Improvement: Your Commanding Stance now applies up to a 20' radius. Also, allies within your Commanding Stance radius who can see you may now apply your Charisma bonus [not doubled] to saves against the frightened or exhaustion conditions.

18th: Battle Lord: Through inspiration, example, and/or instruction[shouting commands], you now grant all allies within 50' a single additional Attack, Disengage, Help, or Dash action, even if they've already used their Actions and Bonus Actions for their turn. You may use this feature once before requiring a short or long rest.

 

[Tony Vargas]

A Second Wind that provides a full heal at level 15 just as at level 1 would be very powerful, with large ramifications for the worldbuilding (fighters never stay injured for more than an hour at a time). Even the current Second Wind fully heals a 200 hp fighter in 8 hours flat.

Everyone fully heals in 8 hrs flat, it's called a long rest. They just also get back half their expended HD for doing so (among other long rest re-charges, of course).

I can understand, on a theoretical level, your argument. It would, in one sense, be more "elegant" if the ability always provided you with, say, 1/8th of your maximum hit points.

Second Wind might be more elegant if it let you spend HD, for another instance - 'scaling' naturally, gaining flexibility as you leveled, and no longer implying 'regeneration' thanks to the inherent limit of running out of HD.

I want a Fighter that uses Intelligence as a secondary ability. Perhaps being able to add it to his initiative when not surprised to simulate tactical advantage, or perhaps the initiative modifier increases his crit range. I like the idea of an intelligent tactician Fighter.

I'd like that, too - it'd let me reprise my first 3e character (well, one aspect of the concept, anyway). A second class that works like the Battlemaster, with CS dice and additional maneuvers, but, say, adding INT mod to CS dice rolls instead of the dice getting bigger, perhaps?

"AREA EFFECT"!!! There's your next "generic enough/but more complex" moving part for a Fighter subclass...make a Dwarven defender, make a Warlord, make a bunch of other things I'm sure I've never heard of...

The Area Effect mechanic Fighter subclass. Champions hit their targets/just fight. Battlemasters use maneuvers. EK's use magic... and the..."Warlords" use area effect mechanics -call them "Stances" or "Mantles" or whatever...actually mantles might be too magical sounding,

'Mantle' was used for the Ardent (Psionic Leader, PH3), FWIW. The Miniature's Handbook Marshal (and the Essentials Knight) used even-more-magic-sounding 'Auras.' The original Warlord had a feature called a 'Presence' that gave allies in an (variously defined depending on build) area around him a benefit when they used action points. It was a distinct but very small part of the class, the kind of thing you could poach with an MC feat, but you could easily fill out a 5e fighter archetype with that sort of thing, the same way a teeny bit of inspiration and a granted attack filled out the PDK. You could probably mine 4e martial features & powers for dozens of such focused archetypes without covering more than a fraction of the possibilities, but the functionality of the Warlord could never be made to 'fit' in a fighter archetype, the design space is just too constrained - it'd need to be its own class.

but you get the gist- to effect more than just their immediate target or someone else within 5' (as, I believe is the extent of the BM's maneuver reach), but can command, say, a 20' diameter area...increasing through levels to maybe 30 or 50' [?]. ... That's it. I've sold myself...the Fighter subclass we all need (and have been waiting for) is the Area Effect Fighter.

That also leans towards the 3.x 'battlefield-control'/'tactical-reach'/WWA builds, which it'd be nice to see better handled by 5e, as well (though squeezing any of those into an archetype would be a stretch, too).

A possible feature for such an archetype:

Combat Reflexes: When you use you are entitled to make an attack using your reaction, you can do so without spending your Reaction. You can do so a number of times before the start of your next turn equal to the number of attacks you can make in one action on your turn.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Having both a high Strength and a high Dexterity, may not be the 2 most optimized high ability scores to have anymore as they can be redundant based on weapon and armour choices that go either just strength (big weapons and heavy armour) or just dex (finesse weapons and light armour).

So I feel that there should be something more optimized for characters who have high scores in both of those abilities.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

It wouldn't take too much to rejigger the champion and the eldritch knight to use martial superiority dice. For the champion, it is before an attack the champion's player roles 1 die, and takes the value of the die/2 (round up) and subtracts that from 20. If the champion rolls on an attack roll higher than the difference, the hit is critical. For the eldritch knight, it is basically doing away with spell slots: roll the die/2 (round up)--your options are melee attack, cantrip, or cast a spell you know of that level.

I don't think any of that will happen. Just a thought experiment.

I wouldn't mind a mystic subclass for the fighter. That would keep psychic stuff out of the ghetto of 1 class (you know you are mainstream when the fighter has a subclass using your power source). I don't know if the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fighter appeals, but a fey themed one could use martial superiority dice to trigger some magical effect (self buffing, teleporting, or some kind of glamour), which could work with a divine fighter, elemental fighter, etc. with different effects.

 

[Bawylie]

While I'd like to see something with stances & a warlord, I'll be happy if we avoid some kind of grave-based subclass.


-Brad

 

[Greg K]

What do I want? I want Khaalis's Light Armor fighter variant and its subclasses which are posted on this site to become official.

 

[The Human Target]

Three interesting sub-classes, without a single bit of magic.

Say a marksman, a duelist, and a super heavy armor tank.

Or three types of warlord.

 

[Mefistofulee]

So, if I'm getting my point across, what we need is another, if there is to be another/different Fighter subclass, is something that is a different mechanic to fight with. I am not a fan of just making/spamming more "magic types." I think the Fighter [and Rogue and Barbarian] should be predominantly, overwhelmingly, non-magical characters. But something that, I suppose, makes the Fighter even more complex/moving parts than the BM. Or simply a different mechanic for determining damage...or attack accuracy...or something.

What, I think, people are looking for in the Fighter, isn't [or shouldn't be] so much new subclasses, which I am sure they think they do, because it just seems more "official" [I guess] that way...But new Fighting Styles, specially/specifically-flavored Battlemaster maneuvers, and character Backgrounds. Those are the moving pieces that can turn your "Champion" or "Battlemaster" into a hundred different things.

i agree what I would like to see for the fighter is more maneuvers that can be taken to make the battlemaster into all the different things people want. or more fighting styles that allow you to make your character the way you want it to be.

I would love to see the battlemaster be able to spend his superiority dice on rolls that effect the other two pillars of the game.