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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next The Vanguard, a heavily armored defensive barbarian variant.



Rfkannen
2017-07-31, 04:43 PM
Howdy!

So I haven't homebrwed in a while and am a bit rusty, so I can use any help finishing this thing up that I can!

The basic concept is to take the barbarian and turn it into a defensive knightly tank!

I tried to keep it about the same power level as a barbarian but more defensive, did I succeed?

Vanguard
As a vanguard, you gain the following class features:

Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d12 per vanguard level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d12 (or 7) + your Constitution modifier per vanguard level after 1st

Proficiencies
Armor: Light Armor, Medium Armor, Heavy Armor, shields
Weapons: simple Weapons, martial Weapons
Tools: one type of artisans tools
Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution
Skills: Choose two from Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Intimidation, Perception,

Equipment
You start with the following Equipment, in addition to the Equipment granted by your background:
• (a) Chain Mail or (b) leather, Longbow, and 20 Arrows
• (a) a martial weapon and a Shield or (b) two martial Weapons
• (a) a Light Crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) two handaxes
• (a) a Dungeoneer's Pack or (b) an Explorer's Pack

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Defensive stance
In battle, you fight with resolute defense. On Your Turn, you can enter a defensive stance as a Bonus Action.

While in a defensive stance, you gain the following benefits if you aren't wearing heavy armor:

• You have advantage on Strength Checks and Strength saving throws.

• You have Resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.

Your stance lasts for 1 minute.. You can end your rage on Your Turn as a Bonus Action.

Once you have entered your stance the maximum number of times for your vanguard level, you must finish a Long Rest before you can do it again. You may rage 2 times at 1st level, 3 at 3rd, 4 at 6th, 5 at 12th, and 6 at 17th.

Fighting Style
At first level you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose a fighting style from the list of optional features. You can't take the same Fighting Style option more than once, even if you get to choose again.

At 16h level you may choose a second fighting style.
Archery
You gain a +2 bonus to Attack rolls you make with Ranged Weapons.

Defense
While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

Dueling
When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other Weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to Damage Rolls with that weapon.

Great Weapon Fighting
When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an Attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the Two-Handed or Versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

Protection
When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the Attack roll. You must be wielding a Shield.


Danger Sense
At 2nd level, you gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren't as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger. You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and Spells. To gain this benefit, you can't be Blinded, Deafened, or Incapacitated.

Careful Attack
Starting at 2nd level, you can keep yourself self while attacking. When you make your first Attack on Your Turn, you can decide to Attack carefully. Doing so gives you disadvantage on weapon Attack rolls during this turn, but also Attack rolls against you have disadvantage until your next turn.


knightly Path
At 3rd level, you choose a path that shapes the nature of your defense, such as the Path of the cavalier. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th levels.

Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two Ability Scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can Attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on Your Turn.

Halting movement
Starting at 5th level, You can choose to have everything within 5 feet of you be considered difficult terrain for enemies.

Bastion’s aura
By 7th level, you are such a bastion of defense that your allies are more confident just being around you.

Allies within 10 feet of you have advantage on saving throws to be charmed, frightened
Indomitable
Beginning at 9th level, you can reroll a saving throw that you fail. If you do so, you must use the new roll, and you can't use this feature again until you finish a Long Rest.

You can use this feature twice between long rests starting at 13th level and three times between long rests starting at 17th level.

Incourable
Starting at 11th level, your passion can keep you fighting despite grievous wounds. If you drop to 0 hit points while you're raging and don't die outright, you can make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you succeed, you drop to 1 hit point instead.

Each time you use this feature after the first, the DC increases by 5. When you finish a short or Long Rest, the DC resets to 10.

Persistent stance
Beginning at 15th level, your stance is so fierce that it ends early only if you fall Unconscious or if you choose to end it.

Indomitable Might
Beginning at 18th level, if your total for a Strength check is less than your Strength score, you can use that score in place of the total.

Knightly Champion
At 20th level, you embody the power of your passion. Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 4. Your maximum for those scores is now 24.



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Path of the Cavalier
For some vanguards, rage is a means to an end— that end being violence. The Path of the Berserker is a path of untrammeled fury, slick with blood. As you enter the berserker’s rage, you thrill in the chaos of battle, heedless of your own health or well-being.

Bonded mount
Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you gain the ability to train a powerful and loyal mount. With 8 hours of work and 50 gp worth of equipment you may bind yourself to a creature which is already trained as a mount.

The mount looses it’s multiattack feature if it has one, The companion obeys your commands as best it can. It rolls for initiative like any other creature, but you determine its actions, decisions, attitudes, and mood. If you are incapacitated or absent your mount acts on it’s own. Your mount benefits from the effects of defensive stance while you have it active.

Your animal companion has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level. Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, an animal companion also adds its proficiency bonus to its AC and to its damage rolls.Your animal companion gains proficiency in two skills of your choice. It also becomes proficient with all saving throws. For each level you gain after 3rd, your animal companion gains an additional hit die and
increases its hit points accordingly.


Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, your companion’s abilities also improve. Your companion can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or it can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, your companion can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature unless its description specifies otherwise. Your companion shares your alignment, and has a personality trait and a flaw that you can roll for or select from the tables below. Your companion shares your ideal, and its bond is always, “The ranger who travels with me is a beloved companion for whom I would gladly
give my life.”


D6 trait
1 I’m dauntless in the face of adversity.
2 Threaten my friends, threaten me.
3 I stay on alert so others can rest.
4 People see an animal and underestimate me. I use that to my advantage. 5 I have a knack for showing up in the nick of time.
6 I put my friends’ needs before my own in all things.


d6 Flaw
1 If there’s food left unattended, I’ll eat it.
2 I growl at strangers, and all people except my ranger are strangers to me. 3 Any time is a good time for a belly rub.
4 I’m deathly afraid of water.
5 My idea of hello is a flurry of licks to the face.
6 I jump on creatures to tell them how much I love them.

Fast as light
Beginning at 6th level, Your mounts movement speed increases by 20 feet,

Trample
Your mount can choose to trample. As a trample your mount moves up to it’s distance in a straight line and it can move through the space of any creature smaller than it, when it passes through the space of a creature like this it may make a stomp attack that deals 1d8 bludgeoning damage that it is proficient in.

Superior Beast’s Defense
at 15th level, whenever an attacker that your
companion can see hits it with an attack, it can use its reaction to halve the attack’s damage against it.


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Path of the Paragon

Resistant
Starting at level 3 you have become an icon of resilience, while in a defensive stance, you have resistance to all damage except psychic damage.


Singleminded
Beginning at 6th level, you have honed your mind to ignore all distractions. you can’t be Charmed or Frightened while in a defensive stance. If you are Charmed or Frightened when you enter your stance, the effect is suspended for the Duration of the stance.

Intimidating Presence
Beginning at 10th level, you can use your action to frighten someone with your menacing presence. When you do so, choose one creature that you can see within 30 feet of you. If the creature can see or hear you, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) or be Frightened of you until the end of your next turn. On subsequent turns, you can use your action to extend the Duration of this effect on the Frightened creature until the end of your next turn. This effect ends if the creature ends its turn out of line of sight or more than 60 feet away from you.
If the creature succeeds on its saving throw, you can’t use this feature on that creature again for 24 hours.

Retaliation
Starting at 14th level, when you take damage from a creature that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon Attack against that creature.



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Crusader

Spellcasting

When you reach 3rd level, you augment your martial prowess with the ability to cast spells. See chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcasting and chapter 11 for the cleric spell list.
Cantrips. You learn two cantrips of your choice from the cleric spell list. You learn an additional cleric cantrip of your choice at 10th level.
Spell Slots. The Crusader Spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
For example, if you know the 1st level spell shield and have a 1st level and a 2nd level spell slot available, you can cast shield using either slot.
Spells Known of 1st-LeveI and Higher. You know three 1st level cleric spells of your choice. The Spells Known column of the Crusader Spellcasting table shows when you learn more cleric spells of 1st level or higher. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 7th level in this c1ass, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.
Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of the cleric spellcs you know iwth another spell of your choice from the cleric spell list. The new spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Spellcasting ability. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your cleric spells, since you can learn through connection with your god. You use your wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In additoin you use your wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw dc for a cleric spell you cast and when makeing an attack rll with one.

Spell save dc= 8+ your proficiency bonus + your wisdom modifer

Spell attack modifier= your proficiency bonus +your wisdom modifier


Holy artifact.

At 3rd level you are god teaches you a ritual to turn a shield or weapon into a holy artifact. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. The weapon or shield must be within your reach throughout the ritual, at the conclusion of which you touch it and complete the ritual.
Once you have completed the ritual, the item counts as a spellcasting focu.
If you attempt to perform the ritual on another item, the effect ends on the first item.

War magic.
Beginning at 7th level, when you use your action to cast a cantrip, you can make one weapon attack as a bonus action.

One with god.

At 10th level, you can cast the commune spell, but only as a ritual.

Undying sentinel.

Starting at level 14, when you are reduced to 0 hit points and are not killed outright, you can choose to drop to 1 hit point instead. Once you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Additionally you do not visable age, suffer none of the drawbacks of old age, and can’t be aged magically.

Sariel Vailo
2017-08-01, 03:46 PM
Defense stance has a wording. Issue it refrences rage

Tiwanoz
2017-08-10, 03:53 PM
Very cool, and a nice alternative to the Barbarian. I personally love the concept of a heavy armor "Barbarian". But have used the Path of Iron from Middlefinger of Vecna.