Archetype of the Protagonist (Martial Archetype) [PEACH]

[Rerem115]

I was watching some anime a while ago (I forget the title), and I was thinking to myself, "Every protagonist that uses a sword has the same stinking abilities; it wouldn't be to hard to transcribe this to 5e". So I did, and here's my take on the protagonist as an archetype. Any thoughts?

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/ry0DOl6t

[JNAProductions]

Empowered Strike is too powerful. (Especially since it doesn't scale with Fighter level, it scales with just plain old level.)

[Rerem115]

Derp. Edited Empowered Strike to be Fighter level. Is it still too strong, or is it okay? If not, what else needs to be changed?

[JNAProductions]

Well, let me math.

Assume a Greataxe, for maximum power.

Assume Fighter of levels 5, 11, and 20, hitting 60% of the time. (These are the WORST levels for Empowered Strike, since you get an extra attack at them.)

Normal DPR is, at level 5, 2*10.5*.6=12.6

At level 11, 3*11.5*.6=20.1

At level 20, 4*11.5*.6=27.6

Empowered Strike DPR is, at level 5, (5*6.5+4)*.6=21.9

At level 11, (11*6.5+5)*.6=45.9

At level 20, (20*6.5+5)*.6=81

Usable 3 times per Long Rest at level 5, 4 times per Long Rest at level 11, and 5 times per short rest at level 20.

Assume 7 encounters per day, each one lasting 4 rounds, with 2 short rests. That's 28 rounds of combat, for 56 attacks at level 5 (or 50 and 3 empowered), 84 at level 11 (or 72 and 4 empowered), and 112 at 20 (or 52 regular and 15 empowered).

Daily DPR is, therefore, at level 5, 50*6.3+3*21.9=380.7, 380.7/28=about 13.6. An increase of 1 DPR.

At level 11, 72*6.7+4*45.9=666, 666/28=about 23.8. An increase of 3.7 DPR.

At level 20, 52*6.9+15*81=1573.8, 1573.8/28=about 56.2. An increase of 28.6 DPR.

So, the issue is not Empowered Strike. The issue is Technique Familiarity.

[Rerem115]

What if I changed Dangerous Forbidden Technique to just once or twice per long rest, instead of Constitution modifier, and then had it go to once or twice per short rest at 15th level? If the number of uses is the problem, changing that number is probably the best way to tweak it.

[JNAProductions]

It's actually fine as is-I have math to back that up. (It's barely an increase with Con Mod per long rest.) It's just that short rest TRIPLES it, effectively, so I'd just change that feature entirely.

[Rerem115]

Ah I see. I edited the 15th level feature so that it only refunds 1 expended use on a short rest, instead of all of them.

[AvatarVecna]

My general thoughts are that the archetype seems balanced enough, except for (unsurprisingly) the Empowered Strike option. As another poster has shown, it's only slightly more damage per day than you could expect at some levels, but those levels are when non-Protagonist Fighters will be at their best comparatively, and it's also assuming a standard number of encounters per long rest; if a Protagonist's Player was so inclined, they could try and get their group to have long rests more often...or to use the rules for shorter long rests, as presented in the DMG, and that would make this option much more powerful.

Regardless, I think this option is too "burst damage" for a Fighter; even if it's the same amount of damage you could expect a Champion to get over the course of a day, a great deal of damage is being loaded into a single round.

Let's assume one Fighter (a half-orc champion 20 wielding a greatsword) has advantage on his attacks, the Great Weapon fighting style, and the GWM feat active, and pit him against another Fighter (a half-orc champion 20 wielding a greatsword) with advantage to all attacks, the same fighting style, and GWM active. Let's assume both would hit on an 8 including the -5 penalty.

The first dude will make 4 attacks. He will miss 12.25% of the time for 0 damage, hit 60% of the time for 23.33 damage (2d6+15 with GWFS), and crit 27.75% of the time for 35.83 damage (5d6+15 with GWFS). Overall, his average damage for the round will be just shy of 96 damage.

The second dude will make one attack with Empowered Strike active. He will miss 12.25% of the time for 0 damage, hit 78% of the time for 181.66 damage (40d6+15 with GWFS), and crit 9.75% of the time for 352.5 damage (81d6+15 with GWFS). Overall, his average damage for the round will be just over 176.

I have yet to check at levels other than 20, but at level 20, if your Protagonist has advantage (or access to other reroll methods like Lucky or Halfling, or can circumvent the attack roll altogether by having a Divination Wizard friend with a 20 to spare), he'll get to deal 81d6+15 to your big boss, and if he uses an Action Surge, he can do it again, for a possible total of 162d6+30 damage in a single round. With the Great Weapon Fighting Style, that's gonna be around 700 HP of damage in a single round, enough to kill most ancient dragons, severally cripple the tarrasque, and even put a dent in Tiamat.

I feel a sort of short term accuracy/damage buff would possibly be more appropriate, but I'm not sure how to change it. The burst damage on this ability just feels like too much for my tastes.

[Rerem115]

When I wrote the Technique list, I wanted there to be a trade off between reliability and strength of the feature; one weaker but always reliable option, one stronger option with a chance of failure, and one really strong option with the chance to do nothing at all. If you guys have any ideas for an ability that captures the idea of "really strong attack....if it hits", I'd like to hear it.

[AvatarVecna]

When I wrote the Technique list, I wanted there to be a trade off between reliability and strength of the feature; one weaker but always reliable option, one stronger option with a chance of failure, and one really strong option with the chance to do nothing at all. If you guys have any ideas for an ability that captures the idea of "really strong attack....if it hits", I'd like to hear it.

How about an ability that makes your attacks this round crit instead of hit? It's a nice damage boost that scales nicely with level, without getting ridiculous. If you think that's a bit weak, maybe have anybody hit by such an attack have to make a save vs some effect.

[Rerem115]

What about this? I changed Empowered Strike to do 2 x weapon damage x number of attacks, have its critical range increased by 2, and added Con save or stunned for a round rider.

[AvatarVecna]

What about this? I changed Empowered Strike to do 2 x weapon damage x number of attacks, have its critical range increased by 2, and added Con save or stunned for a round rider.

That looks more reasonable to me; I haven't run the numbers, and it's probably inferior to the overall damage that could be done over the course of an adventuring day, but it's decent burst damage without being OP, and the rider effect makes it useful regardless.