Ashtagon
2010-05-15, 02:52 AM
The Fighter
The soldier is the quintessential armoured warrior. Ranged combat is left to the ranger and his non-magical variant the scout. Light melee combat is best left to rogues and swashbucklers. Equipment-free melee combat is for monks. But the soldier is a master of arms and armour. The soldier is also a leader of men, and can develop his skills as a commander for his team.
Adventures: fluff text
Characteristics: fluff text
Alignment: Soldiers can be of any alignment.
Religion: Soldiers tend to worship deities that value combat skills, to no ones' great surprise.
Background: fluff text
Races: Soldiers come from any race. They tend to be most common among races that have reasonably advanced weapon and armour crafting skills.
Other Classes: fluff text
Role: fluff text
Game Rule Information
Soldiers have the following game statistics.
Abilities: fluff text
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d10.
Class Skills
The soldier's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (weapon-smith, armour-smith) (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (architecture and engineering, nobility and royalty) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (oratory) (Cha), Profession (siege engineer) (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Intelligence modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier.
Class Features
{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
1st|+1|+2|+0|+0|Martial prowess, true grit
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+0|Bonus feat
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+1|Soldier talent
4th|+4|+4|+1|+1|Bonus feat
5th|+5|+4|+1|+1|Soldier talent
6th|+6/+1|+5|+2|+2|Bonus feat
7th|+7/+2|+5|+2|+2|Soldier talent
8th|+8/+3|+6|+2|+2|Bonus feat
9th|+9/+4|+6|+3|+3|Soldier talent
10th|+10/+5|+7|+3|+3|Bonus feat
11th|+11/+6/+1|+7|+3|+3|Soldier talent
12th|+12/+7/+2|+8|+4|+4|Bonus feat
13th|+13/+8/+3|+8|+4|+4|Soldier talent
14th|+14/+9/+4|+9|+4|+4|Bonus feat
15th|+15/+10/+5|+9|+5|+5|Soldier talent
16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|+10|+5|+5|Bonus feat
17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+5|Soldier talent
18th|+18/+13/+8/+3|+11|+6|+6|Bonus feat
19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|+11|+6|+6|Soldier talent
20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+6|Bonus feat
[/table]
All of the following are class features of the soldier.
Weapon and Armour Proficiency
A soldier is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armour (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).
Bonus Feats
At 1st level, a soldier gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to the feat that any 1st level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The soldier gains an additional bonus feat at 2nd level and every two soldier levels thereafter (4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, and 20th). These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A soldier must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums.
These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels. A fighter is not limited to the list of fighter bonus feats when choosing these feats.
Soldier levels count as (and stack with) fighter class levels for the purpose of meeting feat prerequisites (although this class should be used instead of the SRD fighter class, not in addition to it).
Soldier Talent (Ex)
At every odd-numbered level starting at 3rd, the soldier can select one soldier talent, from the following list. These talents are always available to the fighter, as long as the appropriate equipment is used or the appropriate circumstance presents itself.
Armiger I: You gain a +1 competence bonus to AC when wearing medium or heavy armour. This same competence bonus is also applied to reducing the armour skill check penalty, the maximum Dexterity bonus of the armour, and counts as an un-typed damage reduction (DR x/-) that stacks with other forms of damage reduction.
Armiger II: You gain a +2 competence bonus to AC when wearing heavy armour. This same competence bonus is also applied to reducing the armour skill check penalty, the maximum Dexterity bonus of the armour, and counts as an un-typed damage reduction (DR x/-) that stacks with other forms of damage reduction. Requires armiger I.
Armiger III: You gain a +3 competence bonus to AC when wearing heavy armour, +2 when wearing medium armour, or +1 when wearing light armour. This same competence bonus is also applied to reducing the armour skill check penalty, the maximum Dexterity bonus of the armour, and counts as an un-typed damage reduction (DR x/-) that stacks with other forms of damage reduction. Requires armiger I and armiger II.
None Shall Pass: Add half your class level (round down, minimum +1) to the Tumble DC for enemies who try to Tumble past you without provoking an attack of opportunity.
None Shall Leave: You gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls when you make an attack of opportunity.
Quo Vadis: Any time you hit an enemy with an attack of opportunity (no matter how that attack of opportunity was provoked), he must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 your soldier level + your Charisma modifier), or lose the remainder of his movement for that round. In order to be affected, the target must have an Intelligence of 3+ and be able to hear (but not necessarily understand) you. Requires none shall pass or none shall leave.
Strike Hard: The damage multiplier on critical hits is increased by +1. Requires soldier level 5th.
Strike Harder: The damage multiplier on critical hits is increased by +2. This bonus replaces that from the strike hard class feature. Requires strike hard, soldier level 11th.
Squad Leader: As a swift action, you can grant a +2 competence bonus to any ally within 30 feet who has an Intelligence of 3+ and can hear and understand you. This bonus can be applied to a single melee attack roll, melee damage roll, or skill check. Requires soldier level 7th.
Commander: Add +1 to your Leadership score. Requires soldier level 7th and Leadership feat. This can be taken multiple times.
Inspire Courage: As a standard action, a soldier with 3 or more ranks in Perform (oratory) skill can use a rousing speech to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to hear and understand the soldier speak. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the soldier speak and for five rounds thereafter. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects, and a +1 morale bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 11 skill ranks level, and every six skill ranks thereafter, this bonus increases by +1 (+2 at 11, +3 at 17, and +4 at 23 skill ranks). Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability.
Weapon Training: Choose a single group of melee weapons (e.g. swords, maces, or axes). You gain a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with this class of weapon. This can be taken multiple times. Each time it is taken, either choose an additional class of weapons, or add an additional +1 bonus to a previously chosen class of weapons.
True Grit (Ex)
The soldier has a pool of saving throw re-rolls equal to his class level. This true grit pool is replenished daily, after a full night’s rest.
You can use a re-roll as a free action time a save is required. This re-roll is made after you have rolled the saving throw and seen the result, but before you know whether it was a success or failure.
If a save is failed and it has an ongoing effect, you may use a one re-roll per round as a swift action, in order to attempt to end the effect. If you choose not to attempt a save re-roll on one round, you cannot attempt to save against that particular effect in any future rounds; this also prevents you from attempting a save re-roll with this ability the next day on a long-term ongoing effect.
A save re-roll with this ability can be attempted even if you are restrained, unconscious, turned to stone, subject to mind control, or otherwise unable to act freely.
Martial Prowess (Ex)
A soldier has a martial prowess point pool to spend on powering his soldier abilities. He has a number of uses per day equal to 3 + the modifier from his highest physical ability score (Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity). However, this number can never be greater than his class level (e.g. A 6th level soldier with 18 Strength (+4 bonus) will still only have 6 uses per day, not 7). This martial prowess pool is replenished daily, after a full night’s rest.
Only one martial prowess point can be spent in a single round. Using martial prowess is a swift action unless otherwise noted below. A single point can be spent to perform any of the following actions.
Striker: As an immediate action (i.e. even when it is not his turn), make a single attack at your full base attack bonus. This does not affect your ability to make an attack of opportunity. It counts as an attack of opportunity for purposes of the quo vadis soldier talent.
Lunge: As a swift action, you can (optionally) make a 5-foot step toward an enemy (the target of the lunge attack), and then make a single attack at your full base attack bonus. Your reach is increased by 5 feet for this attack only.
Guardian: As an immediate action when an adjacent ally is attacked, allow the soldier to instantly take the place of that ally, and take that attack in place of the ally. The ally moves to a space of the soldier’s choice that is within 5 feet of his original location (including the soldier’s original location, if desired). The attack is then resolved against the soldier as if he were the original target.
Rally: As a standard action, remove any or all of the following status effects from himself and a number of allies within 30 feet equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier: cowering, dazed, fascinated, frightened, fatigued, panicked, shaken. The soldier can perform this action even if affected by one of these conditions. Allies must be able to hear the soldier speak and must understand his words in order to benefit from this ability.
Second Wind: As a full-round action, recover a number of hit points equal to your class level plus your Constitution modifier.
Edit History and Design Notes
See here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150080) for an older version.
Fighter Bonus Feats: No bonus feat at 1st level. With the new fighter abilities, that just becomes too good a dip.
Soldier Talents: no changes from original thread, except to key inspire courage of the Perform (oratory) skill, rather than class level, and Armiger gained damage reduction.
True Grit: I separated this out from martial prowess (and gave it a separate pool of uses) in order to prevent difficult decisions regarding how to use the pool. I also clarified some of the corner cases on how it can be used.
Martial Prowess: I removed the ongoing effects from this pool, making every sub-ability an instantaneous effect of some kind. Parts of the old larger list are best made into separate feats. As a consequence of trimming down the list, I made all the sub-abilities available from level one. I also devised a new restriction (3 + ability modifier OR class level, whichever is lower) to avoid class dipping.
Note that although leader, striker, and defender abilities are all in there for the martial prowess and soldier talent abilities, there is no opportunity cost if those abilities are not used/chosen, as that just leaves more opportunities to use abilities that focus on other roles that the class can perform well.
I am a little unsure about the second wind ability, in that it effectively leaves the barbarian as the only SRD front-line warrior class without any self-healing ability (paladins have lay on hands, rogues and rangers are not toe-to-toe front-line warriors). Perhaps a barbarian could spend a use of his rage ability to the same effect, while raging.
I did, however, add lots of abilities that use swift/immediate actions. The SRD fighter has almost no use for these two action types, making them losers in the action economy.
This Class vs. The Fighter Manifesto
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8483648&postcount=177
Soldier Talents: 3 are there to make the class use armour better. 3 are pure defender-role abilities, 3 are pure striker-role, and 3 are leader-role abilities. This allows for a reasonably good opportunity to flavour the soldier to your taste.
True Grit: This is my answer to "fighters suck at saves". It takes a really unlucky player to fail this many saves, even if they are bad saves. Making it a limited-use ability forces some decision-making on the class, which I feel is essential for the purpose of engaging the player's interest in the current activity on the table-top. Player-thought should be required both in character design and in character play.
Martial prowess: One pure striker, one mixed striker-defender, one pure defender, one leader, and one to make him last longer in combat. Again, how you use these will affect the flavour of how the class plays out.
The soldier is the quintessential armoured warrior. Ranged combat is left to the ranger and his non-magical variant the scout. Light melee combat is best left to rogues and swashbucklers. Equipment-free melee combat is for monks. But the soldier is a master of arms and armour. The soldier is also a leader of men, and can develop his skills as a commander for his team.
Adventures: fluff text
Characteristics: fluff text
Alignment: Soldiers can be of any alignment.
Religion: Soldiers tend to worship deities that value combat skills, to no ones' great surprise.
Background: fluff text
Races: Soldiers come from any race. They tend to be most common among races that have reasonably advanced weapon and armour crafting skills.
Other Classes: fluff text
Role: fluff text
Game Rule Information
Soldiers have the following game statistics.
Abilities: fluff text
Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d10.
Class Skills
The soldier's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (weapon-smith, armour-smith) (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (architecture and engineering, nobility and royalty) (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (oratory) (Cha), Profession (siege engineer) (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Intelligence modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier.
Class Features
{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special
1st|+1|+2|+0|+0|Martial prowess, true grit
2nd|+2|+3|+0|+0|Bonus feat
3rd|+3|+3|+1|+1|Soldier talent
4th|+4|+4|+1|+1|Bonus feat
5th|+5|+4|+1|+1|Soldier talent
6th|+6/+1|+5|+2|+2|Bonus feat
7th|+7/+2|+5|+2|+2|Soldier talent
8th|+8/+3|+6|+2|+2|Bonus feat
9th|+9/+4|+6|+3|+3|Soldier talent
10th|+10/+5|+7|+3|+3|Bonus feat
11th|+11/+6/+1|+7|+3|+3|Soldier talent
12th|+12/+7/+2|+8|+4|+4|Bonus feat
13th|+13/+8/+3|+8|+4|+4|Soldier talent
14th|+14/+9/+4|+9|+4|+4|Bonus feat
15th|+15/+10/+5|+9|+5|+5|Soldier talent
16th|+16/+11/+6/+1|+10|+5|+5|Bonus feat
17th|+17/+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+5|Soldier talent
18th|+18/+13/+8/+3|+11|+6|+6|Bonus feat
19th|+19/+14/+9/+4|+11|+6|+6|Soldier talent
20th|+20/+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+6|Bonus feat
[/table]
All of the following are class features of the soldier.
Weapon and Armour Proficiency
A soldier is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armour (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).
Bonus Feats
At 1st level, a soldier gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to the feat that any 1st level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The soldier gains an additional bonus feat at 2nd level and every two soldier levels thereafter (4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, and 20th). These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A soldier must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums.
These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels. A fighter is not limited to the list of fighter bonus feats when choosing these feats.
Soldier levels count as (and stack with) fighter class levels for the purpose of meeting feat prerequisites (although this class should be used instead of the SRD fighter class, not in addition to it).
Soldier Talent (Ex)
At every odd-numbered level starting at 3rd, the soldier can select one soldier talent, from the following list. These talents are always available to the fighter, as long as the appropriate equipment is used or the appropriate circumstance presents itself.
Armiger I: You gain a +1 competence bonus to AC when wearing medium or heavy armour. This same competence bonus is also applied to reducing the armour skill check penalty, the maximum Dexterity bonus of the armour, and counts as an un-typed damage reduction (DR x/-) that stacks with other forms of damage reduction.
Armiger II: You gain a +2 competence bonus to AC when wearing heavy armour. This same competence bonus is also applied to reducing the armour skill check penalty, the maximum Dexterity bonus of the armour, and counts as an un-typed damage reduction (DR x/-) that stacks with other forms of damage reduction. Requires armiger I.
Armiger III: You gain a +3 competence bonus to AC when wearing heavy armour, +2 when wearing medium armour, or +1 when wearing light armour. This same competence bonus is also applied to reducing the armour skill check penalty, the maximum Dexterity bonus of the armour, and counts as an un-typed damage reduction (DR x/-) that stacks with other forms of damage reduction. Requires armiger I and armiger II.
None Shall Pass: Add half your class level (round down, minimum +1) to the Tumble DC for enemies who try to Tumble past you without provoking an attack of opportunity.
None Shall Leave: You gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls when you make an attack of opportunity.
Quo Vadis: Any time you hit an enemy with an attack of opportunity (no matter how that attack of opportunity was provoked), he must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 your soldier level + your Charisma modifier), or lose the remainder of his movement for that round. In order to be affected, the target must have an Intelligence of 3+ and be able to hear (but not necessarily understand) you. Requires none shall pass or none shall leave.
Strike Hard: The damage multiplier on critical hits is increased by +1. Requires soldier level 5th.
Strike Harder: The damage multiplier on critical hits is increased by +2. This bonus replaces that from the strike hard class feature. Requires strike hard, soldier level 11th.
Squad Leader: As a swift action, you can grant a +2 competence bonus to any ally within 30 feet who has an Intelligence of 3+ and can hear and understand you. This bonus can be applied to a single melee attack roll, melee damage roll, or skill check. Requires soldier level 7th.
Commander: Add +1 to your Leadership score. Requires soldier level 7th and Leadership feat. This can be taken multiple times.
Inspire Courage: As a standard action, a soldier with 3 or more ranks in Perform (oratory) skill can use a rousing speech to inspire courage in his allies (including himself), bolstering them against fear and improving their combat abilities. To be affected, an ally must be able to hear and understand the soldier speak. The effect lasts for as long as the ally hears the soldier speak and for five rounds thereafter. An affected ally receives a +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects, and a +1 morale bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. At 11 skill ranks level, and every six skill ranks thereafter, this bonus increases by +1 (+2 at 11, +3 at 17, and +4 at 23 skill ranks). Inspire courage is a mind-affecting ability.
Weapon Training: Choose a single group of melee weapons (e.g. swords, maces, or axes). You gain a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with this class of weapon. This can be taken multiple times. Each time it is taken, either choose an additional class of weapons, or add an additional +1 bonus to a previously chosen class of weapons.
True Grit (Ex)
The soldier has a pool of saving throw re-rolls equal to his class level. This true grit pool is replenished daily, after a full night’s rest.
You can use a re-roll as a free action time a save is required. This re-roll is made after you have rolled the saving throw and seen the result, but before you know whether it was a success or failure.
If a save is failed and it has an ongoing effect, you may use a one re-roll per round as a swift action, in order to attempt to end the effect. If you choose not to attempt a save re-roll on one round, you cannot attempt to save against that particular effect in any future rounds; this also prevents you from attempting a save re-roll with this ability the next day on a long-term ongoing effect.
A save re-roll with this ability can be attempted even if you are restrained, unconscious, turned to stone, subject to mind control, or otherwise unable to act freely.
Martial Prowess (Ex)
A soldier has a martial prowess point pool to spend on powering his soldier abilities. He has a number of uses per day equal to 3 + the modifier from his highest physical ability score (Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity). However, this number can never be greater than his class level (e.g. A 6th level soldier with 18 Strength (+4 bonus) will still only have 6 uses per day, not 7). This martial prowess pool is replenished daily, after a full night’s rest.
Only one martial prowess point can be spent in a single round. Using martial prowess is a swift action unless otherwise noted below. A single point can be spent to perform any of the following actions.
Striker: As an immediate action (i.e. even when it is not his turn), make a single attack at your full base attack bonus. This does not affect your ability to make an attack of opportunity. It counts as an attack of opportunity for purposes of the quo vadis soldier talent.
Lunge: As a swift action, you can (optionally) make a 5-foot step toward an enemy (the target of the lunge attack), and then make a single attack at your full base attack bonus. Your reach is increased by 5 feet for this attack only.
Guardian: As an immediate action when an adjacent ally is attacked, allow the soldier to instantly take the place of that ally, and take that attack in place of the ally. The ally moves to a space of the soldier’s choice that is within 5 feet of his original location (including the soldier’s original location, if desired). The attack is then resolved against the soldier as if he were the original target.
Rally: As a standard action, remove any or all of the following status effects from himself and a number of allies within 30 feet equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier: cowering, dazed, fascinated, frightened, fatigued, panicked, shaken. The soldier can perform this action even if affected by one of these conditions. Allies must be able to hear the soldier speak and must understand his words in order to benefit from this ability.
Second Wind: As a full-round action, recover a number of hit points equal to your class level plus your Constitution modifier.
Edit History and Design Notes
See here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150080) for an older version.
Fighter Bonus Feats: No bonus feat at 1st level. With the new fighter abilities, that just becomes too good a dip.
Soldier Talents: no changes from original thread, except to key inspire courage of the Perform (oratory) skill, rather than class level, and Armiger gained damage reduction.
True Grit: I separated this out from martial prowess (and gave it a separate pool of uses) in order to prevent difficult decisions regarding how to use the pool. I also clarified some of the corner cases on how it can be used.
Martial Prowess: I removed the ongoing effects from this pool, making every sub-ability an instantaneous effect of some kind. Parts of the old larger list are best made into separate feats. As a consequence of trimming down the list, I made all the sub-abilities available from level one. I also devised a new restriction (3 + ability modifier OR class level, whichever is lower) to avoid class dipping.
Note that although leader, striker, and defender abilities are all in there for the martial prowess and soldier talent abilities, there is no opportunity cost if those abilities are not used/chosen, as that just leaves more opportunities to use abilities that focus on other roles that the class can perform well.
I am a little unsure about the second wind ability, in that it effectively leaves the barbarian as the only SRD front-line warrior class without any self-healing ability (paladins have lay on hands, rogues and rangers are not toe-to-toe front-line warriors). Perhaps a barbarian could spend a use of his rage ability to the same effect, while raging.
I did, however, add lots of abilities that use swift/immediate actions. The SRD fighter has almost no use for these two action types, making them losers in the action economy.
This Class vs. The Fighter Manifesto
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8483648&postcount=177
Soldier Talents: 3 are there to make the class use armour better. 3 are pure defender-role abilities, 3 are pure striker-role, and 3 are leader-role abilities. This allows for a reasonably good opportunity to flavour the soldier to your taste.
True Grit: This is my answer to "fighters suck at saves". It takes a really unlucky player to fail this many saves, even if they are bad saves. Making it a limited-use ability forces some decision-making on the class, which I feel is essential for the purpose of engaging the player's interest in the current activity on the table-top. Player-thought should be required both in character design and in character play.
Martial prowess: One pure striker, one mixed striker-defender, one pure defender, one leader, and one to make him last longer in combat. Again, how you use these will affect the flavour of how the class plays out.