SpawnOfMorbo
2020-04-09, 12:19 PM
I found my old playtest files from 2013!
I've been reading over the Fighter and honestly, I really prefer the playtest version over what we got. Sure it needs some tweaking to fit into 5e Proper but my god did they pull a fast one on us.
Martial Feats: I'm a fan of martial feats if only specific classes can gain them. If anyone can gain them, say a cleric or wizard, then no thanks. Starts at 1st level and then you get them every so often.
Expertise (Lv. 1): I love this version of Expertise for the fighter. You get 2d6 and they come back at the end of a short or long rest... Or when you use an action!
These fuel a variety of different class features.
Death Dealer (Lv. 1)
Love this feature. You get one option and the way I would change this is to let fighters change this option upon level up.
Deep Wound: You deal some more damage. Sweet n simple.
Ricochet: Fun way to deal a little bit of damage to another enemy other than the primary target to a ranged attack. I would change it to work with Str on thrown attacks and dex with range attacks (it only worked with ranged attacks as printed).
Slam: Shield bashing is pretty cool. Grand disadvantage and a bit of damage? Abyss yeah!
Strike Command: Its like Inspiration and I love this. I see where my Fighter's idea came from in the back of my mind.
Wide Arc: Flavorful and fun. Nothing too crazy but useful for a two handed weapon user.
Superior Defense (Lv. 1): I see these sort of things in homebrew a lot. You get one and again I would like to see some way to change this option.
Block Missile: What else are shields for other than blocking stuff. This makes it feel like you have a shield.
Nimble Dodge: Very useful and flavorful! Can't be used in Heavy Armor but gives a great reason for Strength based fighters to get in medium armor. Always love a reaction to boost your AC.
Parry: Much like Nimble Dodge this helps with your AC as a reaction, but, you don't get the movement as with Nimble Dodge... But you can use this in any armor. I love the balance between the two.
Warning Shout: Absolute awesome way to help out allies.
Unerring Attack (Lv. 4): I want to see option changes, like always :P.
Attack Orders and Careful Attack: Either give others or yourself a bonus to attack rolls!
Glancing Blows or Nick: melee or ranged partial damage.
Shield Swipe: Extra chance to hit with an opportunity attack is a bit meh since the fighter has a bad OA.
Deadly Strike (Lv. 5)
I wish this was an alternative to Extra attack. Not that I think this is better but if you have a power striker instead a volume striker for your character idea then this would be a great feature to have.
This increases as you level up, much like extra attack.
The big thing here is that this makes a fighter have a fantastic OA as it's once per turn!
Multiattack (Lv. 5)
Volley and Whirlwind make an appearance! Though this is more of an extra attack that isn't as good.
This is, essentially, extra attack but specialized. I love it. Extra attack is a better feature, yes, but this is a bit more balanced than the Ranger's version.
Unstoppable (Lv. 7): Defense against spells! Help with saving throws! A feature that isn't once per long rest! I'll take unstoppable over indomitable any day. Especially since Bolster Allies is a great way to become a leader.
Combat Surge (Lv. 11)
This is action surge but at an appropriate level. This is a level 11 feature in the play test. It's once per long rest in the playtest, should be short rest, but this feature is rather broken at low levels, especially when multiclassing is allowed (I've seen some messy things).
Final Thoughts
The Good
It has options other than "I move and attack". Options that show that the 5e Battlemaster is a joke.
You can actually make different sort of fighters that have tactics and options outside of what weapon they are currently holding.
The Bad
This fighter, like the current 5e fighter, only gets combat options. A bit front loaded, but I blame the playtest on that :P.
Also this fighter doesn't actually grow. Yeah it gets more expertise dice and deadly strike... But the maneuvers don't grow (say like how spells grow and become more awesome as you get higher leve, burning hands versus fireball).
The Ugly
There's no simple option and I can see why people would want that... However, if you're going to set the fighter to be a generic warrior template it needs to be customizable and one of those options is a simple warrior (I wish the champion actually a decent sub-class past level 3).
The Beautiful
I really see where my homebrew Fighter came from! Haha. But seriously, I think with a little bit of tweaking someone could run this in 5e and be alright. That's pretty good for playtest material.
I feel bad for the fighter that we got, this thing has so much potential.
If you have the playtest materials, I suggest you take a look at them, there's a lot of neat stuff in there!
I've been reading over the Fighter and honestly, I really prefer the playtest version over what we got. Sure it needs some tweaking to fit into 5e Proper but my god did they pull a fast one on us.
Martial Feats: I'm a fan of martial feats if only specific classes can gain them. If anyone can gain them, say a cleric or wizard, then no thanks. Starts at 1st level and then you get them every so often.
Expertise (Lv. 1): I love this version of Expertise for the fighter. You get 2d6 and they come back at the end of a short or long rest... Or when you use an action!
These fuel a variety of different class features.
Death Dealer (Lv. 1)
Love this feature. You get one option and the way I would change this is to let fighters change this option upon level up.
Deep Wound: You deal some more damage. Sweet n simple.
Ricochet: Fun way to deal a little bit of damage to another enemy other than the primary target to a ranged attack. I would change it to work with Str on thrown attacks and dex with range attacks (it only worked with ranged attacks as printed).
Slam: Shield bashing is pretty cool. Grand disadvantage and a bit of damage? Abyss yeah!
Strike Command: Its like Inspiration and I love this. I see where my Fighter's idea came from in the back of my mind.
Wide Arc: Flavorful and fun. Nothing too crazy but useful for a two handed weapon user.
Superior Defense (Lv. 1): I see these sort of things in homebrew a lot. You get one and again I would like to see some way to change this option.
Block Missile: What else are shields for other than blocking stuff. This makes it feel like you have a shield.
Nimble Dodge: Very useful and flavorful! Can't be used in Heavy Armor but gives a great reason for Strength based fighters to get in medium armor. Always love a reaction to boost your AC.
Parry: Much like Nimble Dodge this helps with your AC as a reaction, but, you don't get the movement as with Nimble Dodge... But you can use this in any armor. I love the balance between the two.
Warning Shout: Absolute awesome way to help out allies.
Unerring Attack (Lv. 4): I want to see option changes, like always :P.
Attack Orders and Careful Attack: Either give others or yourself a bonus to attack rolls!
Glancing Blows or Nick: melee or ranged partial damage.
Shield Swipe: Extra chance to hit with an opportunity attack is a bit meh since the fighter has a bad OA.
Deadly Strike (Lv. 5)
I wish this was an alternative to Extra attack. Not that I think this is better but if you have a power striker instead a volume striker for your character idea then this would be a great feature to have.
This increases as you level up, much like extra attack.
The big thing here is that this makes a fighter have a fantastic OA as it's once per turn!
Multiattack (Lv. 5)
Volley and Whirlwind make an appearance! Though this is more of an extra attack that isn't as good.
This is, essentially, extra attack but specialized. I love it. Extra attack is a better feature, yes, but this is a bit more balanced than the Ranger's version.
Unstoppable (Lv. 7): Defense against spells! Help with saving throws! A feature that isn't once per long rest! I'll take unstoppable over indomitable any day. Especially since Bolster Allies is a great way to become a leader.
Combat Surge (Lv. 11)
This is action surge but at an appropriate level. This is a level 11 feature in the play test. It's once per long rest in the playtest, should be short rest, but this feature is rather broken at low levels, especially when multiclassing is allowed (I've seen some messy things).
Final Thoughts
The Good
It has options other than "I move and attack". Options that show that the 5e Battlemaster is a joke.
You can actually make different sort of fighters that have tactics and options outside of what weapon they are currently holding.
The Bad
This fighter, like the current 5e fighter, only gets combat options. A bit front loaded, but I blame the playtest on that :P.
Also this fighter doesn't actually grow. Yeah it gets more expertise dice and deadly strike... But the maneuvers don't grow (say like how spells grow and become more awesome as you get higher leve, burning hands versus fireball).
The Ugly
There's no simple option and I can see why people would want that... However, if you're going to set the fighter to be a generic warrior template it needs to be customizable and one of those options is a simple warrior (I wish the champion actually a decent sub-class past level 3).
The Beautiful
I really see where my homebrew Fighter came from! Haha. But seriously, I think with a little bit of tweaking someone could run this in 5e and be alright. That's pretty good for playtest material.
I feel bad for the fighter that we got, this thing has so much potential.
If you have the playtest materials, I suggest you take a look at them, there's a lot of neat stuff in there!