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View Full Version : The Art of War [D&D 3.5, New Discipline, Work in Progress]



Ziegander
2012-04-21, 08:54 PM
The Art of War Discipline

I don't have any fluff for this discipline, because it would be rather generic anyway. What I do have are designer's notes, which go a little something like so - What this discipline does is approach the design of maneuvers and stances from the angle of Fighter Bonus Feats. Now, the Tome of Battle had actually dabbled in this with a few of their maneuvers (Mithral Tornado comes to mind), but I aim to design a discipline that emulates many different Fighter Bonus Feats, sometimes to better represent a more situational feat's use, sometimes to offer a prerequisite-heavy feat at a more reasonable opportunity cost, but always to create a discipline that feels wholly mundane, and somewhat regal in its ability to make the most out of every combat situation.

Key Skill: Knowledge (History).
Favored Weapons: Battleaxe, Bolas, Dagger, Flail, Gauntlet, Glaive, Greatsword, Hand Crossbow, Lance, Longbow, Longspear, Longsword, Morningstar, Net, Rapier, Shields, Shortbow, Shortsword, Throwing Axe, and Unarmed Strike.

Level 1

Rapid Deployment - [Untyped]. Gain a +4 bonus to your Initiative check.
Combat Readiness - . Draw or sheath an item as a swift action. You may initiate this maneuver as a free action during a surprise round.
[B]Expert's Gambit - [Strike]. If your attack hits you deal additional damage equal to your base attack bonus (max +10). If it misses, you gain an insight bonus to AC against your target until the start of your next turn equal to your base attack bonus (max +5).
Pressing Assault - [Counter]. Initiate this maneuver when you drop a foe to make an attack against another enemy adjacent to you and the dropped foe.
Trained Reflexes - [Stance]. You may use immediate actions and make attacks of opportunity even if you're flat-footed. You may make a number of attacks of opportunity per round equal to 1 + 1/2 your Initiator level, rather than simply 1.
Weapon Frenzy - [Stance]. You may wield a light weapon in your off-hand and make a number of extra attacks during a full attack action with that weapon as you are able to with your main-hand due to your base attack bonus. When you make extra attacks in this way, all of your attacks suffer a -2 penalty to attack rolls until the start of your next turn.


Level 2

Counterattack - [Counter]. Make an attack of opportunity against a creature that just hit you with a melee attack.
Defensive Strike - [Strike]. If you use this Strike against a creature that attempted, but failed to hit you during the previous round, then you get a +4 bonus to the attack roll and deal 2d6 additional damage. Otherwise, if your attack hits, you gain a +4 bonus to AC until the start of your next turn.
Missile Deflection - [Counter]. Make an opposed attack roll against a ranged attack that targets you. If successful, the ranged attack misses.
Warrior's Prowess - . Your next Bull Rush, Disarm, Grapple, Overrun, Sunder, or Trip attempt this round gains a +4 bonus and doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.


Level 3

[B]Defiant Stand - [Stance]. Whenever you hit a creature with an attack of opportunity, that creature is checked (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#checked) for 1 round.
Dervish Dance - [Strike]. Make a melee attack against each enemy you threaten.
Hare's Charge - [Strike]. You may move up to your speed and make a melee attack against any creatures you threaten during this movement. Your movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal, except from the creature you attack.


Level 4

Hamstring - [Strike]. Your attack deals 2d6 additional damage and reduces the struck creature's speed by half (rounded down to the nearest 5ft). Lasts for 24 hours or until an application of the Heal skill or a magical cure effect.
Hold the Line - [Counter]. Make an attack of opportunity with a +2 bonus against a creature that enters one of your threatened squares. If that creature was charging your attack deals double damage.


Level 5

Expert's Defense - [Stance]. Creatures provoke attacks of opportunity from you when they try to Bull Rush, Disarm, Grapple, Overrun, or Trip you, or when they try to Sunder an item you hold or wear, even if those creatures have feats or special abilities that would normally bypass your attack of opportunity. Further, if your attack of opportunity hits, the creature's combat maneuver automatically fails.
Improved Hare's Charge - [Strike]. You may move up to your speed any make up to two melee attacks against any creatures you threaten during that movement. Your attacks deal 1d6 extra damage and your movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal, except not from creatures you attack.
Stunning Blow - [Strike]. Your attack deals 2d10 extra damage and if it hits, the struck creature must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 15 + Str modifier) to avoid being Stunned for 1 round.


Level 6

Nothing yet.


Level 7

Wounding Blow - [Strike] Your attack deals 6d10 extra damage and if it hits, the struck creature must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 17 + Str modifier) to avoid being Sickened for 1 minute and suffering a -6 penalty to Strength during that time.


Level 8

Greater Hare's Charge - [Strike] Move up to twice your speed and make a full melee attack. Your attacks may occur at any point in your movement against any creatures you threaten, they deal 5d6 additional damage, and your movement doesn't provoke any attacks of opportunity.
Weapon Mastery - [Stance]. While you wield any of this discipline's favored weapons you cannot be disarmed, you get a +2 bonus to armor class and to attack rolls, you deal extra damage equal to ½ your base attack bonus, and you may spontaneously add +5 to one attack roll per round.


Level 9

Mortal Blow - [Strike] Your attack deals 10d10 extra damage and if it hits, the struck creature must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 19 + Str modifier) to avoid being Paralyzed (permanently). Even if this save succeeds, the struck creature suffers a -6 penalty to Strength for 1 minute, is Stunned for 1 round, and is Sickened for the full minute.

Dumbledore lives
2012-04-21, 09:07 PM
I'm not quite sure I get the reason behind this. Tome of Battle classes are considered better than the vanilla fighter because they have options that are different than feats, so adding feats back as maneuvers just seems kind of, redundant I guess.

Kymme
2012-04-21, 10:36 PM
Personally, i'm quite fond of the idea. However, i do have a few suggestions:
-Action before thought should be renamed, so as not to confuse anyone, as well as being a boost.
-There ought to be a strike at level two, if just to round things out.
Other than that, i really like defiant stand and missile deflection, and the rest of the maneuvers are good, too.

Ziegander
2012-04-22, 12:46 PM
Personally, i'm quite fond of the idea. However, i do have a few suggestions:
-Action before thought should be renamed, so as not to confuse anyone, as well as being a boost.

Renamed it Rapid Deployment, but it can't be a Boost, since you can't use a swift action before it's your turn. I have it designated [Untyped] (like the Shadow Hand teleports), I don't know that you normally can use any actions while you're rolling initiative.


-There ought to be a strike at level two, if just to round things out.

Oh, don't worry, none of the levels are to be considered done yet. This is just with the first pass at the Fighter Bonus Feats from the SRD.


Other than that, i really like defiant stand and missile deflection, and the rest of the maneuvers are good, too.

I think my favorites thus far are Combat Readiness (Quick Draw + the ability to draw a potion or other item as a swift action) and Expert's Gambit (an interesting hybrid of Power Attack and Combat Expertise).

eftexar
2012-04-22, 03:37 PM
I've never thought of doing something like this. Actually this is a great excuse for giving a 'fighter'-type more feats than before (without the unnecessary repetition and clutter).
I'm curious though. How are you determining the levels of the abilities? Are you basing it off of when you could get their feat equivalents through leveling?

Ziegander
2012-04-22, 05:30 PM
How are you determining the levels of the abilities? Are you basing it off of when you could get their feat equivalents through leveling?

To some extent that's what I'm doing. In some cases I'm just eyeballing it and balancing them against other similar maneuvers in the Tome of Battle.

And of course, the utter lack of high level maneuvers means that I'll have to offer "improved" versions of some feats at higher levels.