Brainstorming Martial Maneovures

[GalacticAxekick]

I've been working homebrew versions of some of 5e's martial classes: the Fighter, Ranger and Monk. With the Fighter, I've been disappointed with the lack of mechanical difference between weapons and armours, and the lack of round-to-round options. Withe Ranger, I've been disappointed with the obligate half-casting. With the Monk, I've been disappointed Ki, thematically and mechanically.

With the Fighter in particular, I've been writing up system of martial manoeuvres inspired loosely by 3.5e's Tome of Battle, Pathfinder's Path of War, and 4e's at-will exploits. Like a spellcaster learns new spells, a Fighter would learn new manoeuvres every few levels, gaining new abilities when equipped with a weapon or armour of choice. This would replace Fighting Style, among other changes to the class.

The difficulty is coming up with a variety of simple, balanced manoeuvres. I'm trying to write at least one distinct manoeuvre for each the following equipment types, though two or more would be ideal:

Einhander (one-handed weapon, empty offhand). Lacking the strength of a two-handed or dual weapons, and the defense of a shield, einhanders could be associated with mobility, accuracy or technical finesse.
Zweihander (two-handed weapon). With reach and power as the obvious benefits of a two-handed weapon, zweihander manoeuvres should probably manipulate space and debilitate foes using sheer force.
Dual weapon. At early levels, two-weapon fighters have the unique ability to either overwhelm one target or harass two. I'd like dual weapon maneouvres to cement this, long after the Fighter gains extra attacks.
Unarmed. These manoeuvres, like real wrestling, should be focused less on dealing immediate damage and more on restraining and disarming the foe to leave them incapacitated or vulnerable.
Ranged weapon. Accuracy and trick shots allowing long-range effects are an obvious focus.
Shielded. Defense of self and others, of course.
Lightly armoured (wearing medium, light or no armour). Mobility is an obvious focus.
Heavily armoured (wearing heavy or medium armour). Damage resistance and other defenses are obvious focuses.

The Fighter is not a weak class, so manoeuvres that just increase damage output aren't interesting. Rather, I'm hoping to brainstorm manoeuvres that help the Fighter support allies, debilitate enemies, control the battlefield, and move freely. Manoeuvres may be passive or require some form of action to initiate. They can be drawn from existing feats or Fighter features since feats are optional and I'm rewriting the Fighter anyway. Any ideas? Keep in mind, all characters can already Disarm, Grapple, Overrun, Shove, and Tumble, as written in the PHB and DMG.

[Gr7mm Bobb]

Subbed to this, definitely will try to help out when I'm less occupied. But this concept holds promise.

[GalacticAxekick]

Some rough concepts a friend and I brainstormed, to get things started:

Universal changes
Maneovures such as Shoves, Grapples, and Disarms can be attempted in lieu of any melee weapon attack, instead of only attack action attacks. Most notably, you may use your attack of opportunity to attempt to Shove (and trip), Grapple (and arrest) or Disarm a fleeing enemy. This gives everyone, especially martial melee characters, more round-to-round options.

Einhander Manoeuvres:
Freehand. Your empty offhand wards blows away and guides your strikes. You gain a +1 to AC, attack and damage rolls when you are equiped with an einhander. This makes the einhander build better protected than zweihander or dual-weapon builds while more damaging than the shielded build. Jack of all, master of none.
Footwork. Your empty offhand balances you and grants you fleet feet. A creature you target with an attack, hit or miss, cannot make attacks of opportunity against you until the start of your next turn. This would allow an archetypical duelist to lunge in and out safely and avoid ripostes. It'd also let an archetypical dervish move through melee striking many foes but provoking no AoOs.

Zweihander Manoeuvres:
Mordhau. Leveraging your great weapon, you topple even the best defended foes. You may attempt to Disarm, Overrun or Shove any creature your weapon may reach, and you gain a +2 bonus to Disarm, Overrun and Shove contests.. The aim here is to help zweihander fighters debilitate foes (Disarm a weapon, shield, spell focus) control space (Shove and trip a foe from 10 feet away using an AoO) and move around (Overrun reliably).
Halbschwert. With a careful, shortened grip, you drive your great weapon into the nooks of enemy armour. When you choose to make a Halbschwert attack, you score a critical hit on a d20 roll of 20 - Str, but otherwise miss, regardless of your foe's AC This is effectively an armour-piercer. I checked the math (https://www.desmos.com/calculator/gwkqfpypj2). At level 1, with +3 Str, this manoeuvre scores a crit on a d20 roll of 17 or higher, and otherwise misses. At that rate, the damage is only worthwhile if the foe has 20 AC or more. By level 6, +5 Str means the manoeuvre crits on a 15 or higher, but +3 proficiency means the Fighter is more accurate anyway, and 20 AC stays the tipping point. After that, accuracy exceeds crit efficiency, and by level 20, the manoeuvre damage is only worthwhile vs 23 AC. More than anything, it becomes useful for scoring crits if you have abilities triggered by them.

Dual Weapon Manoeuvres:
Ambidexterity. When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack. In addition, you can draw or stow two one-handed weapons when you would normally be able to draw or stow only one. With elements of the two-weapon fighting style and two-weapon fighting feat, this makes the two-weapon fighter's job of overwhelming single foes and handling masses easier.
Split and Scissor. When you could make two weapon attacks, including your two-weapon fighting attack, you may instead attack once at Advantage. When you could make one weapon attack, including your two-weapon fighting attack, you may instead attack twice at Disadvantage. This manoeuvre is flawed, mathematically (https://www.desmos.com/calculator/jpcpjmtdpw). The idea is obviously to allow armour-piercing, advantaged strikes when you need to harass one high AC foe, and a multitude of careless swipes at disadvantage against low AC crowds, but in reality, the loss of an attack isn't worth the advantage's hit rate, and the gained attacks are worth FAR MORE than the disadvantage takes except at high AC (16 at level 1, 22 by level 20). I wanted to include this as an idea of a concept I love that failed utterly in practice.

Ranged Manoeuvres:
Sharpshooter. Attacking at long range doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls. Your ranged weapon attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover. Literally the feat, assuring ranged Fighters are formidable at a distance and despite shelter or melee.
Trick Shot. You may use the Disarm, Grapple and Shove manoeuvres with a ranged weapon. When you would contest your Strength (Athletics), you instead contest your attack roll. A creature you pin with your ranged Grapple contests your original roll rather than a new one as they try to escape. If you target them with another ranged Grapple and roll higher, the target is pinned more firmly and must save against this new roll. Area control is the goal here, as foes are Shoved prone, Shoved into hazards or Grappled and pinned. But through the Disarm, this manoeuvre lets a a ranged Fighter can assist allies in melee by debilitating their foes.

For these, I've taken an approach of one passive, one active. My friend warned me that many plays don't enjoy having too many active abilities and like the Fighter for its simplicity: an opinion I don't understand, but one I'd like to accommodate. Below are some other manoeuvres that are as of yet unpaired.

Other Manoeuvres:
Hostage: unarmed manoeuvre. As a bonus action, you may Blind, Deafen, Restrain or mute a creature you have successfully grappled. The chosen condition remains until the start of your next turn or until the creature escapes your grapple. Through this, a Fighter can temporarily remove a foe from the encounter.
Shelter: shielded manoeuvre. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail. In addition, you provide total cover to targets of your size or smaller. Based on the shield feat, this protects the Fighter from many spells and AoE hazards. Perhaps more importantly, anyone and anything behind them is totally safe by default. This grants the shielded fighter a role as a living bulwark.
Limber: light armour manoeuvre. You may make Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks, such as Tumble attempts, at will during your movement. You gain proficiency in Acrobatics if you don't already have it, or any other of your class's skill proficiency if you do. This generally improves the fighter's agility in combat.
Brace: heavy armour manoeuvre. You are resistant to all damage types except Psychic, and you have Advantage on saves and contests to resist forced movement. These benefits are lost if you move, and are regained at the start of your next turn. You gain proficiency in Athletics if you don't already have it, or any other of your class's skill proficiency if you do. This generally improves the Fighter's durability, provided they are where they need to be.

[Tempest Critic]

For Dual Weapon Manoeuvres:

One of the practical benefits of using two single-handed weapons, is that you are able to keep your defense up, while striking out at the enemy if they attempt to hit you. One weapon blocks and parries attacks, breaking the opponents center, while the other swoops in to take advantage of the opening.

With this in mind, perhaps Dual Weapon should benefit your defense against melee attacks. Or provide benefits against melee attackers.

For example:
When a melee attack against you misses, you may use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that enemy.
OR
When a melee attack against you misses, you may use your reaction to gain advantage on the next attack you make against that target.

[GalacticAxekick]

For Dual Weapon Manoeuvres:

One of the practical benefits of using two single-handed weapons, is that you are able to keep your defense up, while striking out at the enemy if they attempt to hit you. One weapon blocks and parries attacks, breaking the opponents center, while the other swoops in to take advantage of the opening.

With this in mind, perhaps Dual Weapon should benefit your defense against melee attacks. Or provide benefits against melee attackers.

For example:
When a melee attack against you misses, you may use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that enemy.
OR
When a melee attack against you misses, you may use your reaction to gain advantage on the next attack you make against that target.
Nice! That's an angle I definitely hadn't considered!

I already intend to make parries and ripostes into features of a Fighter subclass, using a reaction to add proficiency to AC or counter a missed attack respectively. Your recommendation overlaps. But I do love the prospect of two-weapon defense.

[GalacticAxekick]

Another thing I've noted. Besides manoeuvres distinguishing einhander/zweihander/ranged/etc weapon types, I thought it would make sense to have maneouvres for each damage type.

Bludgeoning weapons might stunning and shoving techniques that ignore armour (probably attacking a save?) as well as fell strikes that domino through adjacent foes and topple large foes.

Piercing weapons might gain armour-piercing techniques (probably using increased crit chance and/or damage) and skewering strikes that target two continuous foes and plunge through large foes.

Slashing weapons definitely shouldnt have any kind if anti-armour, but perhaps anti-flesh bleed and wound effects, as well as cleaving strikes that target two nearby foes and tear along large foes.

This way, an einhander build with a rapier is different from one with a cutlass. A zweihander build with a pike is different from one with a halberd. Slings have merit, as ranged-bludgeoning, even if they're weaker than piercing bows. And so forth.

Any ideas?

[Saiga]

I don't have much to add, as I have little experience with homebrewing, but I definitely like this idea and will be seeing what ideas I might be able to adapt from this. I too wish to come up with a similar idea to allow more options for melee weapon attackers.

I came up with the same TWF maneuver you did, forgoing your bonus action attack to instead strike with both weapons with advantage. You're right, though, there just isn't enough incentive to DO that. Some minor bonus that may or may not be worth it could work, though: increased damage similar to Great Weapon Master, allowing one to still make a shove/trip/disarm if the attack hits (it would be like having two attacks, true, but you could flavour it as tripping/shoving with a kick that you are able to do because striking with both weapons is faster and gives you an opening).

I developed that idea as part of a Rogue subclass that relied on TWF in melee, a more in-your-face orientated Rogue. My solution was that the Rogue would get some short/long rest powers that they could use when their double-weapon attack hit. For example, once per long rest, if their double-weapon attack hit they could turn the result into a critical hit. Or once per short rest, add some additional damage die to the result. So the maneuver would be something they do often enough, but not every round. That's the kind of balance I wanted to strike with it.

[GalacticAxekick]

I don't have much to add, as I have little experience with homebrewing, but I definitely like this idea and will be seeing what ideas I might be able to adapt from this. I too wish to come up with a similar idea to allow more options for melee weapon attackers.

I came up with the same TWF maneuver you did, forgoing your bonus action attack to instead strike with both weapons with advantage. You're right, though, there just isn't enough incentive to DO that. Some minor bonus that may or may not be worth it could work, though: increased damage similar to Great Weapon Master, allowing one to still make a shove/trip/disarm if the attack hits (it would be like having two attacks, true, but you could flavour it as tripping/shoving with a kick that you are able to do because striking with both weapons is faster and gives you an opening).

I developed that idea as part of a Rogue subclass that relied on TWF in melee, a more in-your-face orientated Rogue. My solution was that the Rogue would get some short/long rest powers that they could use when their double-weapon attack hit. For example, once per long rest, if their double-weapon attack hit they could turn the result into a critical hit. Or once per short rest, add some additional damage die to the result. So the maneuver would be something they do often enough, but not every round. That's the kind of balance I wanted to strike with it.Initiating a shove/trip/disarm on hit is considerable! Thanks for your input! But I'd like to avoid limitations like ki points, superiority dice, spell slots and rests. As much as possible, I wamt to let fighters perform roles other than dealing damage, which means unlimited access to non-damage options. Options need to be restrained accordingly so they never replace your basic melee attack.

[Saiga]

Oh, I understand you're using this for an option that works without short/long rest resources, and I definitely want to come up with a similar list of at-will attack options myself (that won't invalidate basic attack). Would adding an extra damage die to the double-weapon attack be more powerful than two separate damage rolls? My gut instinct tells me it won't always be, especially if you're a class that can add their ability modifier to off-hand attacks.

[GalacticAxekick]

Oh, I understand you're using this for an option that works without short/long rest resources, and I definitely want to come up with a similar list of at-will attack options myself (that won't invalidate basic attack). Would adding an extra damage die to the double-weapon attack be more powerful than two separate damage rolls? My gut instinct tells me it won't always be, especially if you're a class that can add their ability modifier to off-hand attacks.

Not too strong, I don't think. Possibly too limited.

And 1d6+Str as an attack and 1d6 as a bonus attack are the same as 2d6+Str as an attack and bonus attack. But the latter can't hit two targets and the former can. The latter can't change its mind after the first strike and the former can.

So really, this is an ability the fighter already has with no potential variation.

Granting the double attack advantage makes it ideal against single foes, which would make it useful! So I'll have to check the math on that.