(Homebrew) Yakk's Talent Fighter

[Ryuujin]

Awhile back I saw a poster on another forum, in a topic about improving the fighter, come up with an interesting idea. Apparently the idea came around from some old school homebrewed talent Rogue that was based off an old Magic User from one of the earliest editions. I don't know all the details, all I know is what this poster posted in that thread. I had been toying with an idea for a Legendary Hero archetype for Fighters at the time, and what I saw of this Talent Fighter seemed like it could do what I wanted better than simply bolting certain concentration, or otherwise, spells onto a Fighter as constant effects.

I asked them about it, and they suggested they posted more about it somewhere else, but I could never find where. And eventually they stopped posting about it as far as I can tell, and I was disappointed. They came up with three talents that look interesting, and some names for some other possible talents, but no mechanics for them. I thought about trying to figure out what to come up with for those other talents, but then thought that I probably couldn't do it justice and match them closely to the power level of the previous talents. So instead of trying to figure them out by myself I thought that maybe if I posted what already existed here the posters here could come up with workable rules for the whole thing.



Talents Known

Code:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 2 1
5 2 2
6 2 3
7 2 2 1
8 2 2 2
9 2 2 3
10 2 2 2 1
11 2 2 2 2
12 2 2 2 3
13 2 2 2 2 1
14 2 2 2 2 2
15 2 2 2 2 3
16 2 2 2 2 2 1
17 2 2 2 2 2 2
18 2 2 2 2 2 3
19 2 2 2 2 2 2 1
20 2 2 2 2 2 2 2



At each level you either learn a new Talent, or upgrade a low level one. When you reach level 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18, you pick a talent of your highest level, and learn it at the next level up.

Sample Talent ideas:
Leap: You can jump 2/3/5/10/20/50/100 times farther than normal. If you spend an action to jump, this can exceed your normal speed. You can melee attack after using an action to jump as a bonus action, dealing an extra (ability leveld12) damage if the attack hits.

Strength: You have advantage on Strength checks to lift, push or pull, or to resist same. You can carry (ability level+character level/2, round up)*2 times more weight than normal. If you fail a Strength saving throw and have your second wind available, you can reroll the save. If the reroll fails, you lose your second wind and the save succeeds. Your current and maximum strength increases by (ability level*2).

Leadership: A follower is any ally who acknowledges you as their leader. Once per round as a reaction you can add d3/d4/d6/d8/d10/d12/d20 to a failed check or save a follower who can see or hear you makes: if the check still fails, you regain your reaction. Your followers have advantage on all saves against fear or effects (such as charm) that would promote disloyalty to you. Others can feel your leadership, and may want to follow you.

As I believe I have said I really like this idea, but the writer never revealed what any of the other talents would do in that thread, and I couldn't find any other references to what the other talents would do.


Because I think pure combat attributes are a bad idea -- we should instead grant the character awesome abilities that can be used in combat, which would grant both combat utility *and* non-combat utility -- here is an attempt at a list:

Lifting, Jumping, Leadership, Deceit, Impenetrability, Senses, Reflexes, Grip, Throwing Arm, Endurance, Running, Swinging/Tumbling, Tactics, Strategy, Morale, Grit, Gusto, Practice, Analyze, Stubbornness, Luck...

These are taken from the mythic (non-spellcaster) heros I'm aware of. Can you think of others?

Adding "extra damage" is easy.

So there is a list of possible other talents, I am curious what the posters on GITP would come up with for those talents, using the three fleshed out ones above as examples.

[djreynolds]

That's cool. I remember from 2nd edition they had s Bard guide. And it had a situation, who's scarier, fighter clad in armor with a sword and shield, or a bard spinning a halberd. Something like that. And then who was more dangerous.

Point is, I'd like to see skills used more in combat. Even just to add advantage or disadvantage. Like "Raistlin" moving a coin on his fingers, might cause some fear and a disadvantage on a saving throw. Or a fighter, using his perform skill wows the enemy. Or is that already there, and I'm just not seeing it. Deception and sleight of hand with sneak attacks.

[PoeticDwarf]

Awhile back I saw a poster on another forum, in a topic about improving the fighter, come up with an interesting idea. Apparently the idea came around from some old school homebrewed talent Rogue that was based off an old Magic User from one of the earliest editions. I don't know all the details, all I know is what this poster posted in that thread. I had been toying with an idea for a Legendary Hero archetype for Fighters at the time, and what I saw of this Talent Fighter seemed like it could do what I wanted better than simply bolting certain concentration, or otherwise, spells onto a Fighter as constant effects.

I asked them about it, and they suggested they posted more about it somewhere else, but I could never find where. And eventually they stopped posting about it as far as I can tell, and I was disappointed. They came up with three talents that look interesting, and some names for some other possible talents, but no mechanics for them. I thought about trying to figure out what to come up with for those other talents, but then thought that I probably couldn't do it justice and match them closely to the power level of the previous talents. So instead of trying to figure them out by myself I thought that maybe if I posted what already existed here the posters here could come up with workable rules for the whole thing.



Talents Known

Code:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 2 1
5 2 2
6 2 3
7 2 2 1
8 2 2 2
9 2 2 3
10 2 2 2 1
11 2 2 2 2
12 2 2 2 3
13 2 2 2 2 1
14 2 2 2 2 2
15 2 2 2 2 3
16 2 2 2 2 2 1
17 2 2 2 2 2 2
18 2 2 2 2 2 3
19 2 2 2 2 2 2 1
20 2 2 2 2 2 2 2




As I believe I have said I really like this idea, but the writer never revealed what any of the other talents would do in that thread, and I couldn't find any other references to what the other talents would do.



So there is a list of possible other talents, I am curious what the posters on GITP would come up with for those talents, using the three fleshed out ones above as examples.

100 times farther isn't realistic...

[Yakk]

Casting wish isn't realistic either.

The idea was to provide things that a legendary hero might be able to do, and encode them as options for a Fighter.

100x longer jump is supposed to be strong, because it is supposed to compete with being able to turn into an different elemental every 6 seconds.

As a sketch, a Level 6 Strong and Level 6 Jump fighter could jump a half-mile as an action.

Some of this was inspired by Exalted (which has "champion type" or "melee type" characters who can do things as awesome as the spellcasters), and others by the idea that a level 20 character beside someone casting "wish" should be able to do things more impressive than hitting things slightly harder than a peasant.

It was also inspired by folk-legends of a pre-Greyhawk Thief designed by early players of OD&D. The Thief was given talents of things that they could "just do", like unlock a door, or pick a pocket. These where always on abilities that had no check attached: the player of the Thief had a veto card that meant their character could just do the thing. The usual OD&D checks where made for anything else (everyone could sneak, but you'd have roll a d6 to see if it worked).

Those Talents where just a sketch of an idea, and naturally work would be required to balance them against the rest of the game system.