Swordsage: The Complex Fighter

[Uskglass]

So my very first iteration of the class (from early 2013) actually used Ki as a resource (before the monk even existed mind you). Testing led to some problems though that I feel are shared by classes like the monk, battlemaster, and warlock. Abilities based on limited use resources don't lead to interesting gameplay IMHO. Basically, the class would always use up its ki for maneuvers, then be stuck with basic attacks. It made the first few rounds of combat interesting, but the last few rounds become too repetitive. At least the spellcasters have a variety of at-will cantrips to fall back on when they are out of resources. Martial PCs aren't so lucky.

I feel the same. I call it the 'depression spiral' in that the character is at its best at the very start of the [time unit], and from there on things can only get worse. I'm very much in favor of counter mechanics which can allow for cool things to stay or become available as the fight goes on.

The initial drafts had ki recover with a 5 minute rest, so it was usable every combat. This at least ensured that some maneuvers were usable each combat. Having a resource recover with a 1 hour rest would make it too infrequent (like the battlemaster) or effectively at-will (like the level 20 monk). I want maneuver usage to be more frequent than battlemaster 12 maneuvers per day, and less frequent than the monk 40 maneuvers per day.

The resource mechanic went through a number of iterations between then and now, but ultimately, I like the "combat focus" the best. I was turned onto it by seeing the 13th Age rogue in action with their "momentum" powers. You are right though, the resource tracking is actually very limited, almost nonexistent. I like the simplicity of that method though. Having less to keep track of is a good thing for the most part, especially when you already have to keep track of things like boosts and counters.

I can see the attractiveness of the 13th Age 'momentum' model, as it is simple to use and to track and I think it works. Along development of my homebrew ruleset I kind of expanded on that, by allowing each class specific mechanics to generate and discharge 'momentum'. Also I made it stackable up to 3 times and portable across encounters (it then resets to 1 upon a long rest). This is a bit more involved in terms of resource management (although it is actually not difficult if you hand out a tokens to players for each 'momentum point'), but also brings out interesting dynamics. If you want to take a look the document is available here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1085 (it's based on 13th Age and it is tailored for sci-fi/modern scenarios, but the mechanics are quite flexible easy to extrapolate for another d20 system like 5e or 4e).
To be clear, I'm not saying this is better than what you got here at all. I like what you did with this class design, it's just to offer a slightly different take on the subject.

 

[NotAYakk]

May I suggest some changes to 5e-ify the class?

Instead of "requires: 9th level" and "legendary", create explicit levels for your abilities. This lets us have an explicit split between ability power levels.

Low level abilities should be nearly at-will, like the Combat Focus mechanic. Maybe which abilities are nearly at-will changes with your character level.

Higher level abilities should be less common, maybe by using mechanics like the Warlock's or your Legendary trick.

By doing this, we can reduce the decision point complexity at each point. Your at-wills come from a smaller pool, and your per-rest from a different smaller pool which you only examine when you want to "burn extra power".

Exploits can also gain power "when used at a higher level" -- so your level 0 abilities when used as level 1 abilities do more stuff.

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Another approach to reduce complexity at play time could be "build your own combat form".

Each combat form would have (1) a stance, and (2) some small selection of exploits attached.

Switching between combat forms would have some cost or restriction. Maybe only if you crit or if you burn an action (and that action must do some other thing -- ie, you need to take the Dash action to enter a particular form).

Or, if it is better that it is easier, maybe a bonus action to change forms, and that bonus action grants some effect (an entering bonus).

Then you can use your exploits in that form from that restricted list.

Characters would know an increasing number of forms, and those forms would have an increasing number of exploits in them, as you gain levels.

This fits the mythology/literature of the "expert warrior" who has named combat styles that they switch between during a fight in response to the situation. By hooking the stance into the form and what exploits we can do, we reduce the number of decisions (what stance AND what attack, or do I save focus for my reaction, of which I have 4) to (which form, which decides what boost -- or which boost, which decides what form) made, while making that decision higher stakes (which can slow down play admittedly).

It also moves more complexity to the build phase for your character.

 

[Ashkelon]

Made a few updates based on feedback. Notably, I trimmed down some features and abilities that seemed excessive. I also made certain maneuvers have level requirements in order to prevent multiclass abuse.