R.Shackleford
2019-05-01, 09:24 AM
Warning: My groups don't go over level 10, so unless there's a lot done to this and someone wants to actually use a higher level version of this... I won't be sending it past level 10.
https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/S1-xbsMVs4
The fighter is currently in pretty bad shape when it comes to an identity. The barbarian and rogue can easily take the fighter's place. The barbarian as a strength based weapon/magic user (barbarians have a lot of different magic abilities) and the rogue as a strength or dexterity based weapon or weapon/magic user. These two classes are also better at Athletics than the fighter, the rogues is better at both athletics and acrobatics as the fighter (even accounting for a lower ability score).
So, I want the fighter to be a leader on the battlefield. However, I don't want to over complicate the Fighter, so the core design should use rules that are already in the game that you can't get away from unless you straight up ignore them.
What's the most underused system in the game? Inspiration. What's, probably, the most sought after and easy buff in the game? Advantage. What does inspiration give you? Advantage.
Boom.
A fighter that gets extra inspiration, not bardic inspiration, so that they can be awesome themselves or help others be awesome. Additionally, this would help them with out of combat situations as inspiration can be used out of combat. It also gives them something to help allies with as inspiration doesn't have many stipulations on what rolls it can use. The only change I would give this Additional Inspiration Dice, well, you don't have to be doing something cool for the fighter to give it to you... You just need to be doing something.
Some changes I made to the core fighter include...
* Fighting Style improves (and you gain a second one) as part of the core class. The improvement isn't much, but it helps.
* Second Wind now does 1/4 Max Hit Points + Fighter Level. This way it doesn't actively get worse the more HP you get... But it doesn't scale out of control either. Fighter level may be replaced by Con Modifier. I need to actually look a bit into this still
* No bonus ASI, this is for the champion subclass.
* Indomitable is just advantage on saving throws. Awesome, yes, but the Paladin's aura is much stronger. I'm thinking of changing this to +Con to all saves but I like the advantage theme I got going on.
* Champion keeps the crit, gains some HP, gets a free asi/feat, and remarkable athlete is better.
* Battlemaster is simplified. Gains some extra things from the DMG. More uses for their bonus action and reaction. Reaction trip might be a bit much, but since they took sentinel away from the fighter (4e fighter, best fighter) I think making creatures use half their remaining movement to get up is a decent trade off.
* Eldritch Knight was overhauled and this is actually where I still need to work on it. I'm ok with the 2 spells per short rest and the overall idea of it, I just think it needs to be worded better. Way better. Honestly I'm thinking of putting a warmagic or eldritch strike back into this at 10th level. I like the idea of turning spells like Fireball into an Attack versus AC sort of thing, but it might be too much at lower levels that my groups play at.
I know this won't keep up with the barbarian in damage, with the loss of Action Surge and bonus damage from being a battlemaster, but I would like to make sure it does around rogue or a little more than Rogue damage. I haven't actually ran the damage numbers on that just yet. Being able to get free advantage a few times per short rest, without the drawback of reckless attack, should help a bit. I want to keep "damage dealer" a viable option, just not the only option.
::Edit::
I think the defensive fighting style will get changed. Instead of just a +1 to AC, I will allow the fighter to replace their dex mod with their str mod when determining AC in medium armor. I might remove the +1 AC bonus, I'm not sure, but I would like to see more non-heavy armored Strength characters outside of the Barbarian.
Edit Again
I changed up the kits for the Champion. One thing that I hear people miss about 3e is the fighters with a bunch of feats. While, they do get more feats now, it really doesn't come close to what they used to do... So I decided to bring some back with alternative kits.
Alternative kits will be suggestions for changing a subclass up a bit. This will be so that if two people want to play the same class and subclass, there is one more layer before people play the same. A fighter with thunderclap via Eldritch Herald would be fun, actually has the armor and defenses to get into the thick of things and make stuff go boom.
Also, since additional inspiration is a short rest mechanic, I dropped the number of uses down by a couple for a longer period. You don't get 4 until 10th level whereas before you got 4 around level 6 ish.
Gave the core fighter a damage boost. Without action surge it would be doing about the same damage as a rogue at level 5 or so... But then the rogue would get more sneak attack. I'm thinking that putting them on par is fair, since the fighter will have a better chance at hitting if they want (inspiration and subclass options).
https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/S1-xbsMVs4
The fighter is currently in pretty bad shape when it comes to an identity. The barbarian and rogue can easily take the fighter's place. The barbarian as a strength based weapon/magic user (barbarians have a lot of different magic abilities) and the rogue as a strength or dexterity based weapon or weapon/magic user. These two classes are also better at Athletics than the fighter, the rogues is better at both athletics and acrobatics as the fighter (even accounting for a lower ability score).
So, I want the fighter to be a leader on the battlefield. However, I don't want to over complicate the Fighter, so the core design should use rules that are already in the game that you can't get away from unless you straight up ignore them.
What's the most underused system in the game? Inspiration. What's, probably, the most sought after and easy buff in the game? Advantage. What does inspiration give you? Advantage.
Boom.
A fighter that gets extra inspiration, not bardic inspiration, so that they can be awesome themselves or help others be awesome. Additionally, this would help them with out of combat situations as inspiration can be used out of combat. It also gives them something to help allies with as inspiration doesn't have many stipulations on what rolls it can use. The only change I would give this Additional Inspiration Dice, well, you don't have to be doing something cool for the fighter to give it to you... You just need to be doing something.
Some changes I made to the core fighter include...
* Fighting Style improves (and you gain a second one) as part of the core class. The improvement isn't much, but it helps.
* Second Wind now does 1/4 Max Hit Points + Fighter Level. This way it doesn't actively get worse the more HP you get... But it doesn't scale out of control either. Fighter level may be replaced by Con Modifier. I need to actually look a bit into this still
* No bonus ASI, this is for the champion subclass.
* Indomitable is just advantage on saving throws. Awesome, yes, but the Paladin's aura is much stronger. I'm thinking of changing this to +Con to all saves but I like the advantage theme I got going on.
* Champion keeps the crit, gains some HP, gets a free asi/feat, and remarkable athlete is better.
* Battlemaster is simplified. Gains some extra things from the DMG. More uses for their bonus action and reaction. Reaction trip might be a bit much, but since they took sentinel away from the fighter (4e fighter, best fighter) I think making creatures use half their remaining movement to get up is a decent trade off.
* Eldritch Knight was overhauled and this is actually where I still need to work on it. I'm ok with the 2 spells per short rest and the overall idea of it, I just think it needs to be worded better. Way better. Honestly I'm thinking of putting a warmagic or eldritch strike back into this at 10th level. I like the idea of turning spells like Fireball into an Attack versus AC sort of thing, but it might be too much at lower levels that my groups play at.
I know this won't keep up with the barbarian in damage, with the loss of Action Surge and bonus damage from being a battlemaster, but I would like to make sure it does around rogue or a little more than Rogue damage. I haven't actually ran the damage numbers on that just yet. Being able to get free advantage a few times per short rest, without the drawback of reckless attack, should help a bit. I want to keep "damage dealer" a viable option, just not the only option.
::Edit::
I think the defensive fighting style will get changed. Instead of just a +1 to AC, I will allow the fighter to replace their dex mod with their str mod when determining AC in medium armor. I might remove the +1 AC bonus, I'm not sure, but I would like to see more non-heavy armored Strength characters outside of the Barbarian.
Edit Again
I changed up the kits for the Champion. One thing that I hear people miss about 3e is the fighters with a bunch of feats. While, they do get more feats now, it really doesn't come close to what they used to do... So I decided to bring some back with alternative kits.
Alternative kits will be suggestions for changing a subclass up a bit. This will be so that if two people want to play the same class and subclass, there is one more layer before people play the same. A fighter with thunderclap via Eldritch Herald would be fun, actually has the armor and defenses to get into the thick of things and make stuff go boom.
Also, since additional inspiration is a short rest mechanic, I dropped the number of uses down by a couple for a longer period. You don't get 4 until 10th level whereas before you got 4 around level 6 ish.
Gave the core fighter a damage boost. Without action surge it would be doing about the same damage as a rogue at level 5 or so... But then the rogue would get more sneak attack. I'm thinking that putting them on par is fair, since the fighter will have a better chance at hitting if they want (inspiration and subclass options).