Pit Fighter - a Fighter Martial Archetype

[Secret Wizard]

Hi, everyone!

THE PIT FIGHTER
(http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rJyzL1RO)
Here's a homebrew martial archetype for the Fighter. I'm mostly worried about balance, as it lacks quite a bit of damage.

It attempts to have Barbarian-like survivability, but depends quite a lot on Charisma.

Tell me what you think.

[JNAProductions]

Hi, everyone!

THE PIT FIGHTER
(http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rJyzL1ROhttp://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rJyzL1RO)
Here's a homebrew martial archetype for the Fighter. I'm mostly worried about balance, as it lacks quite a bit of damage.

It attempts to have Barbarian-like survivability, but depends quite a lot on Charisma.

Tell me what you think.

I think the link is broken.

[Secret Wizard]

Fixed! Other words to make the minimum character count.

[JNAProductions]

Unbearable Ham is too much. That's proficiency in two saves, effectively, and lets you bump two saves by increasing one stat.

For reference, the Rogue gets proficiency in just Wisdom saving throws... 8 levels later.

Cheap Tricks is also too much. That's advantage on every attack besides the first on any given enemy.

Thrilling Spectacle is yet again, too much. That's a free dodge on every turn you're at half HP-combine that with a good AC, and you're effectively doubling your HP for free.

The Stuff of Legends would be okay... If it wasn't for Cheap Tricks. Since CT means you have advantage on pretty much every single attack other than the first, you'll be critting way more than the Champion.

[Lalliman]

I'm not sure how I feel about Unbearable Ham (aside from the hilarious name). If you have a considerable Cha score, then it's basically equal to getting proficiency in Wisdom saves, especially if you, like most people, don't advance into high level. However, seeing as you're still a fighter, with your only other Cha-based ability being adding a tiny Second Wind buff, raising Cha is probably still suboptimal, even with Unbearable Ham in place.

I do agree that Cheap Tricks and Thrilling Spectacle are too powerful. Imagine using Cheap Tricks in conjunction with Action Surge.

[Secret Wizard]

1. What if Unbearable Ham didn't make you proficient in Charisma saving throws and just allowed you to replace one for the other? It's still spreading the Fighter's stats across the board.

2. Cheap Tricks is only advantage if you hit the enemy (a big if), and you are stuck with a 1d4 weapon to trigger it. Basically, you are taking about half damage on an attack (which could have been made with a 1d8 1H weapon) to apply advantage if you hit. I don't think it's too strong, particularly because this archetype does not grant massive bonuses to damage like the champion or the battle master.

3. How would you think we could balance Thrilling Spectacle? How about double all Second Wind healing and deal extra critical damage?

[JNAProductions]

1. What if Unbearable Ham didn't make you proficient in Charisma saving throws and just allowed you to replace one for the other? It's still spreading the Fighter's stats across the board.

2. Cheap Tricks is only advantage if you hit the enemy (a big if), and you are stuck with a 1d4 weapon to trigger it. Basically, you are taking about half damage on an attack (which could have been made with a 1d8 1H weapon) to apply advantage if you hit. I don't think it's too strong, particularly because this archetype does not grant massive bonuses to damage like the champion or the battle master.

3. How would you think we could balance Thrilling Spectacle? How about double all Second Wind healing and deal extra critical damage?

Dex, Con, and Cha. The Fighter has the ASIs to afford MADness.

Yes, but as written, if you then hit WITH ADVANTAGE, your next hit ALSO has advantage. And what if you're using a table as an improvised weapon? Few DMs would rule that's still a d4.

I saw the update to thrilling spectacle. This makes you a better barbarian than a barbarian.

[Secret Wizard]

Alright, here's another take.

THE PIT FIGHTER 2.0
(http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rJyzL1RO)


Do note that I changed it from improvised weapons to unarmed strikes, making it justified to remove the necessity of WIS from the build as you either: go STR/CON/CHA and suffer at DEX saves; go STR/DEX/CON/CHA and spread yourself thin; go DEX/CON/CHA and miss out on adding your best physical ability modifier to your unarmed cheap shots as they aren't finesse weapons.

Making the extra attacks unarmed also locks the damage a 1d4.

Moved the Stuff of Legends to 15th for extra damage, while keeping the survivability boost at 18th with a juiced up Second Wind at low health.

[Final Hyena]

I like V2 a lot more, I think V1 had an issue with different features encouraging different fighting styles. The current iteration all gels together much better.
I do feel that the 3rd level feature is a smidgen weak and the 10th is a smidgen powerful.

One thing about cheap shot is that it only gives disadvantage on an attack against you, it is a feature that encourages enemies to not attack the fighter, which is slightly odd. Have you considered reversing it so that they get disadvantage on their next attack against a creature other than you?