[4e] Duelist

[Sipex]

First of all, I'm not sure what PEACH is so I don't know if this falls under it. Feel free to quickly toss the explanation on here.

So I've been fiddling with this idea for a while, the concept of a class who chains attacks together to garner bigger benefits. Someone who's performing the types of combos we see in video games and having epic battles toe to toe with an enemy. This may also work as an alternate Rogue or Ranger build possibly as it's very close to both in flavour.

Duelist

Class Traits

Role: Striker. Your focus is on dealing damage through an extensive chain of attacks, each bolstering the next in power.
Power Source: Martial - Your strength comes through your extensive training and weaponary.
Key Abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom

Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather, Hide
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple Melee, Military Melee, Simple Ranged
Bonus to Defense: +1 Reflex, +1 Will

Hitpoints at 1st level: 12 + Constituition Score
Hitpoints per level gained: 5
Healing Surges per day: 6 + Constituition Modifier

Trained Skills: Athletics or Acrobatics (choose one). From the class list below choose 3 more trained skills at 1st level.
Class Skills: Athletics (Str), Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Nature (Wis), Streetwise (Cha), Thievery (Dex)

Class Features: Combo Attacks, Finishing Attacks, Dueling Style


Class Features

Combo Attacks: Duelists can build up momentum and power by chaining attacks together in a combo. Any power with the Combo keyword will add 1 to a Duelist's combo count on a successful hit. This count defaults to 0 at the start of an encounter and can reach a maximum count equal to that of the Duelist's Dexterity or Wisdom modifier (depending on which Dueling Style is chosen). This bonus is applied to the damage rolls of any Combo attack the Duelist makes.
Some abilities increase the Duelist's combo count by more than 1 or under different conditions and these will state so explicitly.

Finishing Attacks: Duelists can use their built up momentum and put it all into a grand Finishing attack. Any power with the Finishing keyword applies here. On a hit all attacks of this type reset the Combo count to 0 and add 1D4 damage per combo point obtained at the time.

Dueling Style: A Duelist either fights relying on speed or wit and as such, must choose one of the two paths while training:
Agile Opponent

You duck and weave through battle, depending on your reflexes to guide you and your agility to build momentum and execute dazzling attacks. When calculating your Combo count you use your Dexterity modifier as your cap.

In addition your agility provides you with additional benefits while in the fray. Whenever an enemy misses you with any attack you gain +1 to hit against them until the end of your next turn.

Smart Opponent

Instead of being quick on your feet you've learned to fight with your wit, positioning your blows to take advantage of your opponents openings with each successful strike. When calculating your Combo count you use your Wisdom modifier as your cap.

In addition, your wit provides you with additional benefits while tactically placing yourself in the fray. Whenever you shift at least one square you gain +1 to your next attack roll before the end of your next turn.

[Sipex]

Powers

Sidestep Strike Level 1 At-Will
You strike your enemy and create a temporary opening to allow you to slip past him.
Keywords: Martial, Combo, At-Will
Standard Action
Melee Weapon
Attack: STR vs AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage and you may shift 1 square.

Counter Strike Level 1 At-Will
You wait for the perfect moment to strike, deflecting your opponent's attack and setting up the perfect combo.
Keywords: Martial, Combo, At-Will, Special
Standard Action
Melee Weapon
Special: Using the action, you gain +1 AC until the following triggers or until the start of your next turn.
Immediate Interrupt: When an enemy misses you with an attack.
Attack: STR vs AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage and you gain two combo points instead of one.

Bolstering Strike Level 1 At-Will
You strike your foe and ready yourself for retaliation.
Keywords: Martial, Combo, At-Will
Standard Action
Melee Weapon
Attack: STR vs AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage and you gain temporary HP equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Determined Strike Level 1 At-Will
After missing your opponent you use the momentum from your swing to bolster your next attack.
Keywords: Martial, Combo, At-Will
Standard Action
Melee Weapon
Attack: STR vs AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage.
Special: If you missed with your last attack you may add your Dexterity modifier to the attack roll of this one.

Offbalancing Strike Level 1 Encounter
You strike your opponent and knock him off balance, hopefully keeping him from running too far so you can finish him off.
Keywords: Martial, Combo, Encounter
Standard Action
Melee Weapon
Attack: STR vs AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage and the enemy loses their next move action. They may still exchange a standard action to move instead.
Agile Opponent: The enemy also grants combat advantage to you until the end of your next turn.

Precise Strike Level 1 Encounter
You know exactly how you need to strike, whether you hit or miss it was all planned from the start.
Keywords: Martial, Combo, Encounter
Standard Action
Melee Weapon
Attack: STR vs AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage
Miss: You gain 2 combo points.
Smart Opponent: If you miss you still deal damage equal to your Wisdom modifier plus half level.

Double Strike Level 1 Encounter
You execute an elaborate pair of attacks, one leading into the next.
Keywords: Martial, Combo, Encounter
Standard Action
Melee Weapon
Attack: STR vs AC - Two Attacks
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage per attack. You gain 1 combo point per attack landed.

Momentum Strike Level 1 Daily
After finishing your initial combo your pace only picks up, allowing you to execute combos faster and deadlier than before.
Keywords: Martial, Finishing, Daily
Standard Action
Melee Weapon
Attack: STR vs AC
Hit: 2[W] Strength modifier damage.
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, every time you are to gain combo points you gain an additional point.

Sea of Strikes Level 1 Daily
You dodge and weave between enemies, attacking as you go, paying special attention to a particular target.
Keywords: Martial, Finishing, Daily
Standard Action
Melee Weapon
Special: You may shift up to your speed before or after the attack, passing through enemy squares, this movement must end in an unoccupied square. Each enemy who's square you enter takes the combo damage you roll for this attack, no attack roll is needed.
Attack: STR vs AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage and the target does not take rolled combo damage.
Agile Opponent: You may shift an additional number of squares equal to your Dexterity modifer.

Patient Strike Level 1 Daily
You wait for just the right moment and insert a quick but deadly strike.
Keywords: Martial, Finishing, Daily
Immediate Reaction
Melee Weapon
Trigger: When an enemy hits you with an attack or shifts within reach.
Attack: STR vs AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.
Smart Opponent: You may also trigger this off missed attacks aimed at you, when an adjacent enemy attacks an ally or when you would normally be granted an attack of opportunity.

Prepared Combo Level 2 Encounter Utility
With no time to waste you skip a step in your combo to help speed things up.
Keywords: Martial, Encounter
Minor Action
Effect: Gain 1 combo point

Dodgy Level 2 Daily Utility
You hop, skip, duck, roll and weave between enemies.
Keywords: Martial, Daily
Effect: Gain a +2 bonus to AC and Reflex until the end of the encounter.

[Sipex]

Feats

Opportunistic Duelist
Prerequisite: Duelist
Whenever you land an opportunity attack you gain a combo point.

Focused Duelist
Prerequisite: Duelist
Whenever you attack an opponent you may mark them until the start of your next turn. Marked opponents grant opportunity attacks if they shift or attack an ally while occupying a square you threaten.

Light Blade Duelist - Removed, redundant with existing feats.

Midnight Dueler
Multiclass Feat - Duelist
You may treat a single daily power per encounter as a finishing attack. When doing this you gain an additional +2d4 combo damage on hit. This does not affect daily powers which deal no damage on a hit.

[Sipex]

Alright, added some stuff. Let me know what you think.

edit: I may need to reduce combo damage somehow though. Rangers get an additional 1d6 damage per round at first level provided they use a minor action and Rogues get an additional 2d4 damage per round provided they have combat advantage. My class potentially gets 5d4 damage in a round if you min-max hard enough (3d4 or 4d4 if you just min-max normally). Granted, this only applies if you've built up combo points but I'm unsure if it's balanced.

edit 2: They may also get too many attack bonuses. Hrm. I could remove the combo counter from attack and just leave it as an addative to damage instead. Removed the bonus from attack and left it for damage.

[Kamai]

I think at this point you have a weak striker here. You are looking at a class that can get to +4 damage/round after (on average) 8 rounds of actions, or the battle being basically over. How you have it right now is that the +4d4 damage is only going to happen when you use a daily, which will eventually be once/encounter, but starts out as 1/day. The sorcerer gets about this, but can reliably attack multiple enemies per action and doesn't have to wait for that many rounds.
Maybe if you were to allow any duelist power to end the combo, and add d4s of damage, cut out the part that adds damage equal to the number of combo points, and have finishers instead use the dice as d6s or d8s. This brings a favorable average up to about 1.5d4 or about 1d6 (including multiattack powers and utilities), but needs more hits than a ranger before he does so. At the same time, combo points as you have them transfer between enemies, so this way might come out close, though maybe a bit weak.

On some of the powers:
Counter Strike: Would I need to use the standard action to get +1 to AC and be allowed to attack if the enemy misses?

Precise Strike: Guaranteed damage + Guaranteed combo points (and more for missing)? I think this makes this power too much of a must have.

Dailies in general: If you go with the plan above, these should still generate combo points.

Sea of Strikes: Auto-hit combo damage may be too much for a level 1 daily, and this scales very well as movement distances and secondary stats only increase. This looks a lot like Spark form (Sorcerer Encounter 6), and that doesn't give any autohits. It may be a sign to tweak it a little.
How about this:
Sea of Strikes Level 1 Daily
You dodge and weave between enemies, attacking as you go, paying special attention to a particular target.
Keywords: Martial, Finishing, Daily
Standard Action
Melee Weapon
Special: You may shift up to your speed before or after the attack, passing through enemy squares, this movement must end in an unoccupied square. You may make a secondary attack against any creature whose square that you shift through.
Primary Attack: STR vs AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage. You cannot apply your combo damage to this target if you make any secondary attacks. You cannot make any secondary attacks if you apply you combo damage to this target.
Secondary attack: Str vs AC
Hit: The target takes your combo damage.
Effect: Making any secondary attacks counts as using a finisher.
Agile Opponent: You may shift an additional number of squares equal to your Dexterity modifer.

At first, this looks off because you are guaranteed nothing from the daily, until you remember that you could be allowed to shift 10-11 squares (6-7 speed + 4 dex) and attack as a single action. The primary attack's wording makes it more flexible, allowing it to be a crowd clearer as well as a big move and crash.

This looks like it could be a fun concept, though it could use a bit of tweaking. Also, so you know, PEACH = Please Evaluate And Critique Honestly.

[DragonOfUndeath]

In addition your agility provides you with additional benefits while in the fray. Whenever an enemy misses you with any attack you gain +1 to hit against them until the end of your next turn.

In addition, your wit provides you with additional benefits while tactically placing yourself in the fray. Whenever you shift at least one square you gain +1 to your next attack roll before the end of your next turn.

these should be swapped, the ducking and diving duelist gaining a bonus when moving and the smart, careful and calculated duelist should catch openings in the opponents defense when they miss

[Sipex]

Flavour wise it works but mechanically it doesn't. The agile opponent has an easier chance to be missed due to their focus in dexterity while the smart opponent needs some way to make up for that. I would've gone with INT as a primary stat instead of WIS but WIS skills synched up a lot better since INT is primarily knowledge checks.

[Sipex]

Kamai: I agree with a lot of what you said and I'm thankful you've done the math for me. Also, thanks for the PEACH definition.

I just don't have time to update the class but I will!