Need feedback about my 5e homebrew, the Swordmaster Class

[Yormungand]

Hi folks. I have been working recently on the creation of a class with a bit of flavor and inspiration from Fire Emblem. It can be seen as a mix of a monk/fighter for mechanical purposes but I have kind of worked to make it feel different from already existing classes and subclasses and give it some personality of its own. Any feedback is appreciated, be it to balance or to make the class funnier to play. I still have to write and polish the first page which contains lore and explains the class from a narrative point of view but I am really figuring out rn how to fix the mechanical part. Without further add, I present you:

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/BJX853qEWH

[DeTess]

The mechanics of the main class seem mostly sound, but the 'wanderer' and 'keen eye' fluff abilities have some problems. the 'wanderer' feature only works when you're not in a party, which is only rarely the case and encourages IC anti-social behavior and party-splitting. The 'keen eye' abilty's second part is really odd, as the benefit you describe doesn't seem all that different from what you'd get if you'd try to attune to the weapon (if it requires atunement), or information I'd expect a Gm to just give when handing out loot if it doesn't require atunement.

I'd consider changing the wording of Astra a bit, as it seems overly complicated right now. I'd just make it a single attack at advantage, and I don't think the 'can't crit again' language is necessary. Technically it stops an infinite loop of crits from happening, but that's not a realistic outcome in the first place.

For the subclasses, I'd reword 'unyielding spirit' to make it clearer when you use which bonus,as right now I can see it being a point of discussion whenever it comes up (is shrugging off a paralyze effect a mental or physical effort, for example?). I'd just say 'add your dexterity bonus if it's a str, dex or con save. Otherwise add your wisdom'. I would also consider making this a 1/short rest ability, as it's currently far weaker than the ability gained by the duelist at that level. I'd also specify whether honed senses allows you to attack invisible creatures without disadvantage or not (as knowing where they are is not necessarily the same as being able to see them).

I'd make a note with the crippling strike ability about whether it could turn a hit into a miss if it's used as the attack gained from 'vantage'. For locate vitals, you should make the DC clearer. As I understand it, you're rolling against their AC+their CHA bonus +proficiency if they have proficiency in deception, but it could also be an opposed roll from your wording. The DC is also very high for an ability with a relatively minor effect, limited uses and an bonus action cost (which this class can natively use for an extra attack), so I'd simply make you roll against their AC, or their AC+CHA.

Lastly, you've got quite a few major abilities keying of getting a critical hit. Dice luck being what it is, I'd consider adding an ability that allows you to get a single guaranteed crit (or turn a normal hit into a crit) at some cost, such as a level off exhaustion, a bunch of adrenaline surges or simply as a 1/long rest ability. This ability would have to be mid-high level (maybe replace 'keen eye') to avoid people dipping this class to get it on their rogues or paladins.

[Yormungand]

Thanks a lot for your feedback! It is really appreciated and the ideas brought up to the table were really neat. I updated already most of what you came up with.

-Wanderer is less lonely oriented, as the slow pace bonus now benefits anyone accompanying you
-Keen Eye only needs to touch the weapon to know how to use it and it's properties now. The part of rolling to know the damage dice is more thematical in case you find some epic enemy with a sword or something like that.
-Vantage+Crippling hits debuff can indeed turn a hit into a miss
-Honed Senses allows you to know where creatures are, just like the rogue's feature. Not to see them as it's not blindsight.
-Improved Unyielding Spirit's Wording.
-Locate Vitals DC is now target's AC only.

-Guaranteed critical feature, Sounds very neat as an idea but I must figure out how to implement that, since I don't want to skyrocket the class in-combat damage to a point that I won't be allowed to use it.