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D&D 5E The fighter's Indomitable ability

In the years since I posted my OP I have come to the conclusion that Indomitable should mean that you automatically pass the save, just like Legendary Resistance. This addresses many of the issues raised in this thread. In particular it prevents an enemy Diviner wizard negating it which is decidedly unfun. It also better fits the name. I also pull it to 4th level:

Indomitable: Beginning at 4th level you may pass a saving throw you fail (q.v. Legendary Resistance). In addition, if the save is versus a spell which does not ordinarily allow a saving throw the spell has no effect if it does not do damage or does half damage if it does damage. You may use Indomitable once per Short Rest. At 9th level you may use Indomitable twice per Short Rest. At 17th level you may use Indomitable three times per Short Rest. You recover all uses after a Short or Long Rest.

I'm thinking of switching out the 9th level or 17th level boost for something in another pillar.
Wasn't how it origianlly worked in the playtest, but they made it weaker due to complaints from the the pretend playtesters?
 

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I didn't take part in the playtest but IIRC - and someone who was can confirm - Indomitable was at one point a flat Advantage on all saving throws.
At first, when all fighters had superiority dice, they could add one of those to a save (either Iron Will, Great Fortitude or Lightning Reflexes).

Later on it was indeed advantages on all saves.

At one point they also had advantage on Death Saves.

And this superb feature:

Fighter’s Supremacy
''At 20th level, when you hit a creature that has 20 hit points or fewer with an attack and deal damage to it, you can automatically reduce that creature to 0 hit points''
 

At first, when all fighters had superiority dice, they could add one of those to a save (either Iron Will, Great Fortitude or Lightning Reflexes).

Later on it was indeed advantages on all saves.

At one point they also had advantage on Death Saves.

And this superb feature:

Fighter’s Supremacy
''At 20th level, when you hit a creature that has 20 hit points or fewer with an attack and deal damage to it, you can automatically reduce that creature to 0 hit points''
Man, the playtest was great.
 

Man, the playtest was great.
Oh yes.

The 4E monk was quite simple and worked perfectly, the fighter had many things going of for them.

Monk regained 1 Ki per turn at level 20.

You know the 3 new ''critical hit'' feats from Tasha's? Well it was a Warrior's (one of the later playtest fighter's archetype). They also had a knight archetype which was pretty much a 4e defender in 5e, no like the cavalier from XGtE which requires 17 levels to be almost a real defender.

The archetype with the superiority dice could use their action to regain 1 die, and a higher level, if they spend a whole turn without any die, they recovered 2 dice at the start of the following turn.

The druid shapeshift used templates instead of the monster's statblock.

The ranger's archetypes were based on their favored enemy.

Paladin had a archetype-based summon mount built-in feature.

Evoker wizard could deal half damage even on successful cantrip save AND missed cantrip spell attack, not like their crappy feature that is applicable to, like, 2 cantrips in the whole book! And they could ignore resistance at higher level.

Illusionist could cast Invisibility as a reaction when attacked.

Enchanter could make their charm effect permanent and ignore immunity to charm!

etc, etc, etc
 
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Oh yes.

The 4E monk was quite simple and worked perfectly, the fighter had many things going of for them.

Monk regained 1 Ki per turn at level 20.

You know the 3 new ''critical hit'' feats from Tasha's? Well it was a Warrior's (one of the later playtest fighter's archetype). They also had a knight archetype which was pretty much a 4e defender in 5e, no like the cavalier from XGtE which requires 17 levels to be almost a real defender.

The archetype with the superiority dice could use their action to regain 1 die, and a higher level, if they spend a whole turn without any die, they recovered 2 dice at the start of the following turn.

The druid shapeshift used templates instead of the monster's statblock.

The ranger's archetypes were based on their favored enemy.

Paladin had a archetype-based summon mount built-in feature.

Evoker wizard could deal half damage even on successful cantrip save AND missed cantrip spell attack, not like their crappy feature that is applicable to, like, 2 cantrips in the whole book! And they could ignore resistance at higher level.

Illusionist could cast Invisibility as a reaction when attacked.

Enchanter could make their charm effect permanent and ignore immunity to charm!

etc, etc, etc
I’d forgotten some of these. Still have the files, but it’s been a long time since I looked at them.
 

You can get 2 twenties relatively easily as a Fighter by level 10 so long as you don't get any feats.

You just need to start with 2 16s.

I played a Goliath with 2 20s a while (Strength and Con)

As a Fighter I would generally not go for 2 twenties but would instead aim for a good Wisdom and get resilient (Wisdom). Wisdom saves are the things that can see you taken out of an entire combat, so it's a good thing to get. (People always underrate this because everyone likes to plan for best case scenarios).
However, fighers gain lot of benefit out of feats. Generally, melee PC are the most feat heavy.
 




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