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Amechra
2019-09-05, 12:49 PM
Way of the Swordsage [Monk Subclass]

Combat Savant
Starting at 3rd level, you can use Wisdom instead of Strength or Dexterity for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons. In addition, whenever you would expend a superiority die, you may spend 2 ki and roll one of your Martial Arts dice instead.

Mysteries of War
At 3rd level, you learn two maneuvers of your choice, which are chosen from the list of maneuvers available to fighters with the Battle Master archetype. Many maneuvers enhance an attack in some way. You can use only one maneuver per attack. You learn one additional maneuver of your choice at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels. Each time you learn a new maneuver, you can also replace one maneuver you know with a different one.

Preternatural Awareness
Starting at 6th level, as long as you aren't surprised, you may make a Wisdom (Insight) check in place of your normal initiative roll. In addition, whenever you use a maneuver to enhance an unarmed strike, you may use Stunning Strike to enhance that attack without spending any ki.

Sage of Violence
At 11th level, you gain great insight through combat. You have advantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks related to creatures you have hit with an attack within the last hour.

Fist of the Warrior-King
At 17th level, you may spend 1 ki whenever you make an attack. If you do, you may use up to two maneuvers on that attack.

AugustNights
2019-09-26, 03:36 PM
I like how simple this is, I'd absolutely take this class just for the wis for weapons, in of itself.

One this that could be clarified between Combat Savant and Mysteries of War is that the Swordsage never receives Superiority Dice. I'm uncertain if this is intentional, or if the Swordsage is meant to always use their martial arts die and use ki to activate their Maneuvers.

Also, what does 'enhancing an unarmed strike' mean in context of Preternatural Awareness? Is that any maneuver that is part of an attack?

Zhorn
2019-09-27, 06:26 AM
I like the flavour of this subclass.

Combat Savant
Starting at 3rd level, you can use Wisdom instead of Strength or Dexterity for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons. In addition, whenever you would expend a superiority die, you may spend 2 ki and roll one of your Martial Arts dice instead.

Mysteries of War
At 3rd level, you learn two maneuvers of your choice, which are chosen from the list of maneuvers available to fighters with the Battle Master archetype. Many maneuvers enhance an attack in some way. You can use only one maneuver per attack. You learn one additional maneuver of your choice at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels. Each time you learn a new maneuver, you can also replace one maneuver you know with a different one.
Suggest moving the underlined section from Combat Savant into Mysteries of War, solely to do with Mysteries of war relating to Combat Maneuvers and Combat Savant having no other connection to that mechanic.
Also, listing how many superiority dice you have access to and what is base size they operate at. As the monk is going to get a far greater pool of resources to draw from compared tot the Battle Master Fighter, I'd limit them to a smaller number and size with no progression on those base dice (ki and martial arts already cover that, potentially far better than the Battle Master Fighter). If the intent is to have Combat Maneuvers run solely off ki usage, wording could be adjusted to make that more apparent.
Then the Saving Throw question; is the DC for the Combat Manuevers based off the ki save's DC (Wisdome based), or is it using the same saves as what the Fighter has listed for Combat Maneuvers (Strength or Dexterity)?


Preternatural Awareness
Starting at 6th level, as long as you aren't surprised, you may make a Wisdom (Insight) check in place of your normal initiative roll. In addition, whenever you use a maneuver to enhance an unarmed strike, you may use Stunning Strike to enhance that attack without spending any ki.
Stunning Strike is already a pretty strong mechanic, getting essentially free Stunning Strikes at level 6 is going to be a a little too strong. If not wanting to change it, this might fit better as the 17th Level feature for the subclass, as that underlined component of the feature is probably stronger than the current wording on Fist of the Warrior-King.


Sage of Violence
At 11th level, you gain great insight through combat. You have advantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks related to creatures you have hit with an attack within the last hour.
This feature seems light enough that it might be possible to merge in the non-underlined component of Preternatural Awareness. Possible switch their feature titles round?


Fist of the Warrior-King
At 17th level, you may spend 1 ki whenever you make an attack. If you do, you may use up to two maneuvers on that attack.
Wording could do with a little tweaking to be a bit less ambiguous. suggestion:
"At 17th level, when you make an attack, you can choose to spend 1 ki point to enable the use of two different Combat Maneuvers on the same attack. This ki point does not cover the cost of the individual Combat Maneuvers."

overall adjustments with a re-ordering
Combat Savant
Starting at 3rd level, you can use Wisdom instead of Strength or Dexterity for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons.

Mysteries of War
Maneuvers. You learn two maneuvers of your choice, which are chosen from the list of maneuvers available to fighters with the Battle Master archetype. Many maneuvers enhance an attack in some way. You can use only one maneuver per attack. You learn one additional maneuver of your choice at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels. Each time you learn a new maneuver, you can also replace one maneuver you know with a different one.

Superiority Dice. You have [number] superiority dice, which are [die size]. A superiority die is expended when you use it. You regain all of your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest.
In addition, whenever you would expend a superiority die, you may spend 2 ki and roll one of your Martial Arts dice instead.

Saving Throws. Some of your maneuvers require your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver’s effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Maneuver save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your [modifier]

Preternatural Awareness
Starting at 6th level, as long as you aren't surprised, you may make a Wisdom (Insight) check in place of your normal initiative roll.
In addition, you gain great insight through combat. You have advantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks related to creatures you have hit with an attack within the last hour.

Sage of Violence
At 11th level, when you make an attack, you can choose to spend 1 ki point to enable the use of two different Combat Maneuvers on the same attack. This ki point does not count towards the cost of the individual Combat Maneuvers.

Fist of the Warrior-King
At 17th level, whenever you use a maneuver to enhance an unarmed strike, you may use Stunning Strike to enhance that attack without spending any ki.

Old Harry MTX
2019-09-29, 03:33 PM
Cool, personally I always sponsor everything that involves the use of maneuvers.

Furthermore, Zhorn's review seems very clear and clean.

It would also be interesting to create a version of the Crusader as an archetype of the Paladin!