Homebrew Prepared Maneuverist

[xiphumor]

As I continue to think about how to make a 1/3 martial archetype for caster subclasses and thinking about how to make them weaker but still interesting, it occurs to me that casters might not have learned their maneuvers by traditional means. As such, what do y’all think of this:

“At 1st/2nd/3rd level, you gain the ability to use combat maneuvers. You gain proficiency in one combat tradition of your choice.

You gain an exertion pool equal to twice your proficiency bonus, regaining any spent exertion at the end of a short or long rest. You use your maneuvers by spending points from your exertion pool.

You prepare the list of archetype maneuvers that are available for you to use, choosing from the combat traditions you have gained from this class. When you do so, choose a number of archetype maneuvers whose combined degree levels do not exceed the Degree Total value for your level on the archetype table. The Maneuever Degree column on the archetype table shows the maximum maneuever degree you can prepare.

You can change your list of prepared maneuvers whenever you finish a long rest by communing with the source of your magic (by studying, meditating, practicing, etc.) for at least 1 minute per maneuver degree for each maneuver on your list.”

Levels	Degree Total	Maneuver Degree
1-4	2	1st
5-8	3	1st
9-12	4	2nd
13-16	5	2nd
17-20	6	3rd

I’m working on the multiclassing rules, but hopefully this should help sidestep the notorious 1 Fighter dip problem.

 

[niklinna]

Interesting. This still gives your 1/3 martial as many "spell slots" (exertion) as a full martial. That seems to be just how exertion works in A5E, though; the level-1 dip problem for that would remain.

The archetype is more flexible than a full martial class, in that it can change out maneuvers. Also, nothing prevents it from preparing two 3rd-degree maneuvers at high level, when any martial class would have been confined by their degree progression to having more or less a pyramid. (I still do no like that rule about replacing a known maneuver with one of the exact same degree, neither higher nor lower.)

This archetype will still have very few maneuvers at a given time, though, and from one combat tradition only.

 

[xiphumor]

Interesting. This still gives your 1/3 martial as many "spell slots" (exertion) as a full martial. That seems to be just how exertion works in A5E, though; the level-1 dip problem for that would remain.

The archetype is more flexible than a full martial class, in that it can change out maneuvers. Also, nothing prevents it from preparing two 3rd-degree maneuvers at high level, when any martial class would have been confined by their degree progression to having more or less a pyramid. (I still do no like that rule about replacing a known maneuver with one of the exact same degree, neither higher nor lower.)

This archetype will still have very few maneuvers at a given time, though, and from one combat tradition only.

There is still the problem with multiclassing into Herald, to be sure, but that needs to be fixed for Heralds, so this isn’t the place to do it. I’m mostly worried about getting access to super high maneuver degrees.

There is greater flexibility but less choice. I’m not sure that I’ve hit the right balance yet though. A single tradition isn’t very much choice, after all, so being able to swap them out isn’t a very big deal.

They pyramid thing bothers me too, and I’m not sure why they went with that. However, I’m not very concerned about doubling up on the highest degree maneuvers because it would mean giving up a stance, and stances are usually the most valuable maneuvers IMHO.

Basically all casters except Artificers have a 6th-level archetype feature, so maybe the standard bonus at that level could be a second tradition.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

...oh damn, i kinda like this, actually.

 

[xiphumor]

Multiclassing Magical Combatants​

If you gain the Magical Combatant or Combat Maneuvers features from more than one class or archetype, you gain any additional combat traditions or maneuvers the features provide but your exertion pool remains the same and does not stack.

Heralds. The herald is an exception to this rule. If your first levels are in the herald class, you gain an exertion pool equal to twice your proficiency bonus. You regain exertion spent from this pool at the end of a short or long rest.

You may learn or prepare maneuvers from any traditions you are proficient in from any source.

You use your class levels in every class that grants the Magical Combatant feature to determine the highest degree of combat maneuvers you can prepare, determined by the class with the greatest access. However, class levels in classes that grant the Combat Manevuers feature do not count toward the highest degree of maneuver you can prepare, nor toward your Maneuver Total. Likewise, class levels in classes that grant the Magical Combatant feature do not count toward the highest degree of maneuver you can learn.