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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ruleslawyer" data-source="post: 3978654" data-attributes="member: 1757">The other possibility is that maybe "people" don't want anime- or wuxia-flavored D&D, but are looking to certain abilities featured in anime or wuxia films as exemplars of what a high-level warrior should be able to do. Just as one might look to the Beowulf motion-capture flick, 300, or any number of other films that feature "physically impossible" feats of prowess that nonetheless work as "martial" abilities.The problem with D&D in all its previous incarnations is that it requires the fighter to be a Christmas tree in order to even come close to a spellcaster in power. In many cases, it actually requires the fighter to rely on the spellcaster for any semblance of relevance. The designers originally attempted to create balance by giving wizards limited spells memorized, which if anything skews D&D further away from most fantasy (with the exception of Dying Earth, and even that magic system is different). So in order for 4e to bring classes closer in parity without mandating a specific magic item allowance (and even that doesn't really bring full parity), fighters have to be beefed up a bit at high levels. Given that high-level warriors in Western culture could be immune to damage (Achilles), swim the sea for nine days (Beowulf), or throw fatal spears at giants with their toes (Cuchulainn), being able to deflect a swarm of arrows, jump 10 feet in the air, or knock a legion's worth of ordinary soldiers around like tenpins doesn't really seem like a stretch for me.EDIT: As a disclaimer: I currently play (and will probably continue to play) Iron Heroes, simply because it offers me the greatest ability to duplicate "classic" vanilla high fantasy and S&S of any system out there (except possibly Conan, but I don't like the Conan ruleset, classes, etc.). IH confers no obviously magical abilities, but certainly does give fighters the ability to perform some amazing feats at high level. Most Bo9S maneuvers seem comfortably in line with the IH feats, and I'd like to see such abilities available to D&D fighters in 4e. If you don't want flight, dimensional travel, or setting one's sword aflame as martial abilities, I'd say that's reasonable. But it's also easy to recast those abilities in a slightly less "F/X-ish" fashion. Perhaps a warrior knows a special secret for treating his blade with alchemist's fire; or can simply hurtle himself through the air for dozens of yards (think the Beowulf movie). Perhaps he's so acrobatic, subtle, and stealthy that he can travel ten paces with all observers not even realized he moved. I recontextualize Bo9S abilities like this all the time in my current game, and it seems to work.</blockquote>

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