Mith
2018-02-07, 12:53 AM
Hi Playground,
Was reading through Rules Cyclopedia from AD&D and I was reminded of Fighter Combat Maneuvers, which only a Fighter had access to all of, but some other classes could use 1 or 2. I was wondering how it would work to give all fighters at 2nd level 2 d6 superiority dice and access to all combat maneuvers . At 3rd level, all archetypes except Battle Masters gain 2 more dice (4 d6), and it stays as is, while the Battle Master gains 4 dice and all dice go up a die size (6 d8). They then gain the regular progression up to 8 d12 at 18th level.
This gives all Fighters some of the versatility of the Battle Master, which is generally seen by many as the more interesting Fighter variant with the Superiority dice system. I would add in that if one doesn't want to deal with maneuvers, they essentially get a dice pool of extra damage dice that refreshes on a short rest. Opening up all the maneuvers, in my opinion, places emphasis that Fighters are just that much better at plain fighting. Give them an hour break every so often, and they can get right back into the fight little less worst for wear (Hit Dice + Second Wind at the end of a short rest).
The other idea was to have Fighters proficient with all Fighting Styles. This means that a Fighter in armour is always that much more difficult to hit, their attacks land a bit harder (Dueling, GWF, or TWF), they are a bit more accurate with ranged attacks, and they can protect their close allies (Protection). What ever manufactured tool of war they find, they can pick up and use.
The two downsides that I can see with this idea is that while it opens up Fighter Options, it removes the niche of the Battle Master with Superiority Dice, and a key idea of the Champion (extra Fighting Style). Part of me is wondering about merging the Battle Master and Champion if you took this above ideas, and from Player handbook options, you have an Archetype that focuses on combat maneuvers and more consistent critical blows, with a fighter that can pull off the combat maneuvers half as often, but also has access to wizardry.
Currently, I have not looked to see if there ends up with some unexpected synergy between these changes and other fighter subclasses or with multiclassing.
Thank you for sharing any thoughts you have on my above ideas.
-Mith
Was reading through Rules Cyclopedia from AD&D and I was reminded of Fighter Combat Maneuvers, which only a Fighter had access to all of, but some other classes could use 1 or 2. I was wondering how it would work to give all fighters at 2nd level 2 d6 superiority dice and access to all combat maneuvers . At 3rd level, all archetypes except Battle Masters gain 2 more dice (4 d6), and it stays as is, while the Battle Master gains 4 dice and all dice go up a die size (6 d8). They then gain the regular progression up to 8 d12 at 18th level.
This gives all Fighters some of the versatility of the Battle Master, which is generally seen by many as the more interesting Fighter variant with the Superiority dice system. I would add in that if one doesn't want to deal with maneuvers, they essentially get a dice pool of extra damage dice that refreshes on a short rest. Opening up all the maneuvers, in my opinion, places emphasis that Fighters are just that much better at plain fighting. Give them an hour break every so often, and they can get right back into the fight little less worst for wear (Hit Dice + Second Wind at the end of a short rest).
The other idea was to have Fighters proficient with all Fighting Styles. This means that a Fighter in armour is always that much more difficult to hit, their attacks land a bit harder (Dueling, GWF, or TWF), they are a bit more accurate with ranged attacks, and they can protect their close allies (Protection). What ever manufactured tool of war they find, they can pick up and use.
The two downsides that I can see with this idea is that while it opens up Fighter Options, it removes the niche of the Battle Master with Superiority Dice, and a key idea of the Champion (extra Fighting Style). Part of me is wondering about merging the Battle Master and Champion if you took this above ideas, and from Player handbook options, you have an Archetype that focuses on combat maneuvers and more consistent critical blows, with a fighter that can pull off the combat maneuvers half as often, but also has access to wizardry.
Currently, I have not looked to see if there ends up with some unexpected synergy between these changes and other fighter subclasses or with multiclassing.
Thank you for sharing any thoughts you have on my above ideas.
-Mith