Need a class feature for melee damage dealer

[yougi]

So I've been working on a new class for 3.5, an adaptation of the 4E Avenger. To those of you who have not played 4E or who have, but haven't played an Avenger, the Avenger is a religious "melee dps". They are known for two things: they wear no armor and can declare an "Oath of Enmity", meaning they swear to defeat a creature in particular, gaining bonuses in the process, one of which is that when they attack the target of their OoE, they roll their to-hit dice twice, and only keep the highest result. However, after many tweaks, I've been stuck without a damage-increasing feature to make them solid melee damage dealers: so far, all they have is a Wis bonus to their damage against their OoE target, and the ability to forego their DR (at high level).

One idea I had which could embody the Avenger's "I'm out to get you" theme, was something I first named reverse sneak attack: the ability to deal more damage when you're the only one attacking the target. The problem with that is that it discourages teamwork, and that's not that interesting. Plus, it made the Avenger totally useless in an encounter with a solo monster. Now, I'm totally out of idea.

Now, two things:
- After pondering with the idea, I decided the Avenger will not be a spellcaster or psi-manifester. Maybe a factotum-like caster could be appropriate.
- I am also not a big fan of the ToB, so he will not become a maneuver-user either.

[Daftendirekt]

I personally don't think the Avenger's shtick would work particularly well in 3.X; as you said, it's all about attacking somebody that the rest of the party isn't, which can work well in the combat-heavy, roles-assigned-to-all system that is 4e. Its other big feature was teleporting everywhere, which one can just become a Swordsage or a Telflammar Shadowlord to do.

[Invader]

This would probably be better in the homebrew forum.

[Edge of Dreams]

The best DPS builds for 4e Avengers were so-called "Crit Fisher" builds - since the Avenger rolls two d20s, the chances of a critical hit are way higher, and anything that boosts crit range, increases crit damage, or triggers special effects on a crit would be even better on an Avenger.

So, why not play into that? Give them increased crit range or crit multiplier, or allow them to confirm critical threats more easily.

Also, DPS aside, you might consider granting them Warlock-style invocations to give them some utility powers and such.

[yougi]

The best DPS builds for 4e Avengers were so-called "Crit Fisher" builds - since the Avenger rolls two d20s, the chances of a critical hit are way higher, and anything that boosts crit range, increases crit damage, or triggers special effects on a crit would be even better on an Avenger.

So, why not play into that? Give them increased crit range or crit multiplier, or allow them to confirm critical threats more easily.

Also, DPS aside, you might consider granting them Warlock-style invocations to give them some utility powers and such.

Agreed. I did build my 4e Avenger as a Crit Fisher (Vicious Greataxe!). I gave my Avenger two bonuses regarding Crits: (1) OoE gives a +4 to confirm criticals, and (2) I gave them a Smite, which automatically confirms all criticals.

And Maybe you're right about invocations, although I don't see them as too "Avenger-y". Maybe I should re-think my "no spellcasting" idea to allow some limited divine spellcasting, maybe on a Factotum-like scale.


This would probably be better in the homebrew forum.

My train of thought was that asking for a class feature is closer to asking for optimization than it is to present a whole class, but then again, I might be wrong.


I personally don't think the Avenger's shtick would work particularly well in 3.X; as you said, it's all about attacking somebody that the rest of the party isn't, which can work well in the combat-heavy, roles-assigned-to-all system that is 4e. Its other big feature was teleporting everywhere, which one can just become a Swordsage or a Telflammar Shadowlord to do.

I know, it needs some tweaking to fit 3.x's focus rather than 4e's, which is, to me, a small-scale wargame. Although I believe it's interesting enough to make some players want to try it.