Greywander
2022-08-12, 10:11 PM
This was originally going to be a thread about a sword'n'shot (i.e. melee weapon + hand crossbow) fighting style, with a few other recommended changes to bring things in line with the new fighting style. But my brain kept thinking about this until it kind expanded into a big rework of most of the martial combat system. My goals here are generally to make martial combat more fun, interesting, and active, so that martial characters are both more powerful, more fun to play, and have better teamwork strategies.
While thinking about this, I wasn't sure what features should be feats and what features should be fighting styles. Fortunately, Fighting Initiate is a feat, so I've decided to just make them all fighting styles. This means I'm actually going to be removing a bunch of feats. To wit: Crossbow Expert, Defensive Duelist, Dual Wielder, Great Weapon Master, Gunner, Heavy/Medium Armor Master, Mounted Combatant, Polearm Master, Sharpshooter, Shield Master, and Tavern Brawler. These feats are no more. In their place is a whole host of new fighting styles that grant comparable benefits.
I'll be splitting this post up according to specific loadouts (e.g. what kind of weapons you're using). Each section will generally contain a list of changes that apply to all characters, requiring no investment to benefit (beyond proficiency with the weapons and armor you're using), followed by the fighting style(s) designed for that particular loadout. Now, there will also be a lot of crossover between these. Fighting styles won't be so narrow that they only apply to one type of weapon, they'll just give the greatest benefits when using that type of weapon.
Anyway, let's get started.
Armor
Before we get into weapons, let's go ahead and get armor and the Defense fighting style out of the way. The inspiration here is obviously drawn from HAM, and skews towards making heavy armor, and thus STR, more appealing. We're not taking anything away from lightly armored DEX builds, so they're just as effective as before, if not more so, we're just adding a new benefit to heavier armor.
New Rule - Armored Defense. Wearing armor not only reduces the odds of taking a direct hit, but it also reduces the damage taken when you do. Any creature wearing armor reduces any bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage they take. Light armor reduces this damage by 1, medium armor by 2, and heavy armor by 3.
On a case-by-case basis, the DM may allow a character with some kind of unarmored AC bonus to also benefit from a similar form of damage reduction. The DM may choose to set this damage reduction to a specific number, or set it equal to that character's Constitution modifier.
This is pretty simple and straightforward. Damage reduction is always helpful, but especially against hordes of weaker enemies. Warriors in plate will have an easier time handling hordes of goblins and such without any AoE. And this is freely given to any character wearing armor. That does mean it applies to enemies, too, but most monsters don't wear armor.
What about the fighting style?
New Fighting Style - Defense. The damage reduction granted by wearing armor (or from unarmored bonuses) now applies to all damage, except psychic damage.
What can I say? The bear totem barbarian had a pretty decent idea.
Sword'n'Board
One of the issues with sword'n'board in vanilla is that by increasing your own defensive ability you actually discourage enemies from targeting you. If you're trying to build a tank who protects their allies, the system is working against you here, as enemies are encouraged to attack someone they're more likely to hit. The Protection fighting style is a nice way to balance this out, so it's a shame it's locked behind a fighting style. Let's change that.
New Rule - Shield Wall. Any creature proficient in the use of shields is able to use them to guard nearby allies. When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.
New Rule - Shield Cover. The bonus to AC granted by shields now also applies to Dexterity saving throws.
One of the benefits of Shield Master is now available to everyone, making shields that much more defensive. This will be important when we get to the new Protection fighting style. More importantly, shields are now better at fulfilling a tanking role by allowing you to actively protect your party members. Now enemies have to attack you, because if they don't you'll just impose disadvantage on their attacks against someone else.
New Fighting Style - Protection. You've mastered the use of a shield to deflect attacks. You gain the following benefits while wielding a shield:
When you succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against an effect where you take half damage on a successful saving throw, you may use your reaction to instead take no damage.
At the same time you use the above reaction, you can angle your shield to deflect that effect. Choose a direction and creatures in a line 5 feet wide originating from your position take only half damage from that effect on a failed saving throw, and no damage on a successful saving throw.
Now we're talking. An Evasion-like effect not only for yourself, but also for other members of your party. It does require you to pass the save first, and it does use a reaction, and it does only affect a line, and it does only affect that one effect, but that's still pretty baller. Now the decision to use a shield and pick up the Protection fighting style allows you to play a much more active role in defending your party. Just the idea that your party can hide behind your shield and allow you to entirely negate a dragon's breath weapon is really cool, and makes this a very appealing choice.
Shot'n'Shield
Of course, melee weapons aren't the only things that can be used with shields.
New Rule - Reloading Ranged Weapons. Weapons with the ammunition property no longer require a free hand to reload.
Remember when I said this post was originally going to be about a sword'n'shot fighting style? This is one of those changes that was necessary to make that possible, so that you can reload the hand crossbow while you have a weapon in your other hand. But it also immediately enables the use of a sling or hand crossbow with a shield. Which I think is fine. The biggest problem with this was the Crossbow Expert feat, allowing you to benefit from a shield and get a bonus action attack and be able to attack from range and suffer no penalty for being in melee. But Crossbow Expert doesn't exist anymore. This is basically the ranged version of sword'n'board, and has similar trade-offs compared to using a stronger bow or crossbow. And anyway, you can get basically the same result with throwing weapons, so I don't see the point in not allowing it to work with one-handed ranged weapons, too.
Two-Weapon Fighting / Twin Pistols
TWF is actually pretty strong at low levels, it just drops off at higher levels. It also suffered pretty severe niche displacement because of PAM and CE, which again, are no more. TWF is one of those things that I'm not actually sure what the best way to improve on it is. But I've got to have something, so I'll take a stab at it.
New Rule - Sword and Dagger. You can now use two-weapon fighting with any light weapon, not just melee weapons. Furthermore, only the weapon used to make the bonus action attack needs to have the light property.
Two things: First, you can now use a rapier and dagger together, as God intended. This prevents TWF from being a drain on Extra Attack by gimping your main hand attacks. Second, this also enables a "twin pistols" loadout, and since hand crossbows already have the light property (likely because they were originally intended to be used with TWF, but this was scrapped for some reason), no further change is needed to dual-wield hand crossbows. So while CE has been removed, there's still a way to get a BA attack with a hand crossbow, and it doesn't require a feat or even a fighting style. Speaking of fighting styles...
New Fighting Style - Two-Weapon Fighting. You have mastered the difficult art of fighting with two weapons. You gain the following benefits:
You can draw or sheathe any number of weapons as part of the same object interaction.
When you are hit by a melee attack, you may use your reaction to roll the damage die of a light melee weapon you are holding and add the result to your AC against that attack. If you roll the highest value on that damage die, the attack misses automatically and you may make an opportunity attack against the attacker as part of the same reaction.
Obligatory quick-draw so you can get both weapons out at the same time, but also a nice parry-and-riposte. Note that a larger damage die on the light weapon gives more of an AC bonus, but a smaller damage die has a higher chance of triggering the automatic miss and riposte. So there's actually a viable reason to use a dagger instead of a shortsword. Also note that nothing here actually requires you to use two weapons. It just benefits more if you are. That's going to be a recurring theme in this thread.
Two-Handed Weapons
We've given a lot of love to shield-users, so let's share that affection with two-handers.
New Rule - Cleave. When a melee attack reduces an undamaged creature to 0 hit points, any excess damage from that attack might carry over to another creature nearby. The attacker targets another creature within reach and, if the original attack roll can hit it, applies any remaining damage to it. If that creature was undamaged and is likewise reduced to 0 hit points, repeat this process, carrying over the remaining damage until there are no valid targets, or until the damage carried over fails to reduce an undamaged creature to 0 hit points.
New Rule - Power Attack. When make an attack with a weapon wielded in two hands with which you are proficient, you may choose to forgo adding your proficiency bonus to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you can then add twice your proficiency bonus to the damage roll.
That first one is just the optional rule for cleaving through multiple targets from the DMG. I haven't changed anything about it. Note that it's not limited to two-handed weapons, but a weapon that deals more damage will be more likely to reduce an undamaged creature to 0 HP. Power attacks are instead of the -5/+10 feature from GWM and SS, and yes, it works with ranged weapons as long as they're used with two hands (so no hand crossbows). When taken together, a power attack with a two-handed weapon becomes more likely to reduce an undamaged creature to 0 HP, and thus cleave through an additional target.
So from here, there's a bit of an issue. See, a weapon like a greatsword is very different from a weapon like a pike. I don't think they are meant to fill the same role, and I think it's more interesting to give each one their own niche. So that's what I'm going to do. Three separate fighting styles, one for each BPS damage type. This adds a flare of variety, and makes the choice between those three damage types a bit more meaningful without forcing that complexity on the players. It only matters because you chose the specific fighting style that made it matter.
Greatsword / Greataxe
Based on what I know about greatswords, where they truly excel is in fighting multiple opponents. Those wide, sweeping arcs keep enemies at bay, and, potentially, can strike down several opponents in a single blow if they're foolish enough to get in the path of your blade.
New Fighting Style - Horde Fighting. You've mastered the art of fighting against multiple opponents with a sword or axe. You gain the following benefits:
You can cleave through opponents even if they enemy being reduced to 0 hit points isn't undamaged.
When you cleave with a slashing weapon, it deals an additional 1d6 slashing damage to each additional enemy struck after the initial attack.
You'll notice nothing here requires a greatsword, or even a greataxe. The first benefit applies to any weapon, and the second benefit applies to any slashing weapon. But again, to get the most out of this fighting style you'll want to be dealing lots of damage. And the best way to do that is by power attacking with a greatsword. This is the fighting style of choice if you want to sometimes decapitate four goblins in a single blow. If your damage rolls are good. And you don't miss. Notice that cleaving now acts a bit more like the BA attack from GWM, since it triggers every time you reduce an enemy to 0 HP.
Greathammer
I'll be honest, this is one of the places where I feel like I need a little help. I have to come up with something, so here it is, but I'm open to suggestions for alternatives.
The most salient feature of blunt weapons is their heft. When you get hit, you feel it. It knocks you off your feet, and not always just figuratively. They're also ideal weapons for dealing with armored foes. So let's see what we can do with that.
New Fighting Style - Hammer Fighting. You've mastered the use of blunt weapons to knock opponents down and crack through armor. You gain the following benefits:
Bludgeoning damage you deal ignores the damage reduction given by the Armored Defense rule.
You can power attack with a weapon even if you aren't wielding it in two hands.
When you hit a creature with a power attack, you can choose to do additional damage equal to your proficiency bonus instead of twice your proficiency bonus. When you do so, you can immediately attempt to shove that creature as part of the attack.
Continuing the trend, only the first benefit specifically requires a bludgeoning weapon (not even that, just bludgeoning damage, which could be a spell!). I suppose this isn't even a greathammer fighting style, as it seems geared more toward one-handed weapons. I might actually remove the middle feature, which would then require a two-handed weapon to use the third feature.
Polearms
Before we get into weapons like pikes, let's first address some of the shorter options.
New Rule - Double-Ended Weapons. A double-ended weapon that is wielded in both hands uses the rules for two-weapon fighting, as if the weapon's other end was a separate weapon. Each weapon with the double-ended property will show how much damage it deals and what type of damage next to the double-ended property.
Spears, tridents, and quarterstaves are no longer versatile weapons. Instead, each of these weapons now has the double-ended property.
Quarterstaff, double-ended (1d6 bludgeoning)
Spear, thrown (20/60 feet), double-ended (1d4 bludgeoning)
Trident, thrown (20/60 feet), double-ended (1d6 bludgeoning)
Oh look, it's the BA attack from PAM. Just like CE, the BA attack was integrated using the TWF rules. That means the quarterstaff/spear and shield cheese is no more. But we've given shield users some nice things to make up for that loss.
New Fighting Style - Polearm Fighting. You've mastered the use of spears, pikes, and other polearms to hold a defensive position against advancing enemies. You gain the following benefits:
While wielding a piercing melee weapon, a creature you can see provokes an opportunity attack from you when it enters your reach.
You can treat a creature within your reach as if it were within 5 feet of you. For example, you can impose disadvantage on that creature's ranged attacks, and if the creature is prone your own attacks are not at disadvantage.
There's the other benefit of PAM. Though weirdly it now applies to things like rapiers and daggers. This fighting style also removes some of the penalties that came with not being within 5 feet of your target when attacking them with a reach weapon. So it nudges you toward things like pikes, but again the benefits apply more broadly.
Ranged Weapons
We've actually already covered quite a few tweaks to ranged combat:
You can reload ammunition weapons without a free hand.
You can use ranged weapons with TWF. This is instead of the CE BA attack.
You can power attack with ranged weapons. This is instead of the SS -5/+10.
We'll address shooting from melee when we cover sword'n'shot, so all that leaves us with is ignoring cover and extending range. I suppose there's also ignoring the loading property, which I haven't managed to fit in anywhere, but it might actually be more interesting not to negate it. In which case, a twin pistols build on someone with Extra Attack will probably use a sling for your main weapon and hand crossbow for the off-hand. Or you could take advantage of the TWF style's quickdraw to draw a loaded hand crossbow with each attack and sheathe it afterwards. Six men with guns? More like one guy with six guns.
Anyway, back on topic.
New Fighting Style - Sharpshooter. Your skill with ranged weapons is legendary, with unparalleled accuracy and even the ability to curve your shots slightly. You gain the following benefits:
Your range with all ranged weapons is doubled.
You can treat a target with half cover as having no cover, and three-quarters cover as half cover.
If there is a space within 5 feet of a creature behind full cover that you could shoot to, and there isn't full cover between that space and the creature, you can treat that creature as having three-quarters cover.
You can cleave with ranged attacks, but each target you cleave through must be along a line 5 feet wide originating from you and passing through the space of your original target.
Some of these features are weaker than Sharpshooter, and some stronger. Double range means you can only shoot a longbow at 300 feet without penalty, but you can shoot at up to 1200 feet with a penalty. Cover is only downgraded one step, instead of being completely ignored, but you can even shoot creatures at the edge of full cover. Finally, being able to pierce through multiple enemies should be fun. It at least makes power attacking weak enemies less of a waste.
Thrown Weapons
I'll be honest, I'm running out of steam, and don't really have a plan here, but I feel compelled to include something. Let's see what we can do real quick to make throwing weapons better.
New Rule - Draw and Throw. When you make a ranged attack with a weapon with the thrown property, you can draw that weapon as part of the attack.
This solves the biggest issue throwing weapons had. After all, you can somehow pull out multiple arrows, so why not do the same for darts and javelins? But where to go from here? I suppose we can look at how throwing weapons are often used in movies and such. And often they're used as distractions or to pin someone momentarily.
New Fighting Style - Throwing Fighter. You've practiced throwing weapons so much that your speed and accuracy are unparalleled. You gain the following benefits:
You can throw any weapon without penalty. For you, any weapon you are proficient with has the thrown property with a range of 20/60 feet.
Your range with weapons that already have the thrown property is doubled.
When you throw a weapon that deals piercing damage, you can choose to pin that enemy instead of harming them. If you succeed on your attack roll, you deal no damage, and instead reduce that creature's speed to 0 until it uses an action to pull itself free.
When you throw a weapon that deals slashing or bludgeoning damage, you can attempt to distract that creature. On a hit, the attack deals half the normal damage, and if the damage rolled is higher than that creature's Wisdom score, it has disadvantage on its next attack.
Okay, good enough I suppose. We're nearly done, and I am very much looking forward to doing something else. If you have suggestions for something better, I'm open to them.
Unarmed
This is the last one before we get to sword'n'shot. We have to take care not to step on the monk's toes too much. At the same time, it would be nice if this also provided a benefit to monks.
New Rule - One Two Punch. If you have at least one empty hand, you can use the two-weapon fighting rules to make an unarmed strike as a bonus action. As per the rules for two-weapon fighting, this does not add your ability modifier to the damage roll, and two-weapon fighting can't be used with weapons wielded in two hands.
New Fighting Style - Brawler. You don't need a weapon because you are one. You can kill someone with a pencil. You gain the following benefits:
You are proficient with improvised weapons.
Your unarmed strikes and improvised weapons deal 1d6 damage.
After you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or improvised weapon, you can grapple or shove that creature as a bonus action.
You can use Constitution instead of Strength for ability checks made to grapple or shove.
I'm not completely happy with this, but it'll do for now. I might come back and tweak it later, and I'm also open to suggestions.
CON grappling is mostly for DEX builds, since lots of people dump STR but no one dumps CON. No one maxes CON, either, but no one dumps it. So it makes you not terrible but not amazing as a grappler.
Sword'n'Shot
Alright, it's the thing that originally spawned this thread. To make this particular loadout functional, we had to make a few tweaks to the existing rules before even getting to fighting styles. First, we needed to get rid of Crossbow Expert, as it rendered a sword'n'shot style of fighting entirely moot. Second, we needed to allow one-handed reloads. No, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but yes, we needed it to make this work mechanically. Finally, we needed ranged weapons to work with TWF. Now that the groundwork has been laid, let's get right into the fighting style.
New Fighting Style - Skirmisher. You've trained in fighting in close quarters with both melee and ranged weapons. You gain the following benefits:
While you are wielding a melee weapon, being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.
When a creature you can see ends their turn within 30 feet of you but more than 5 feet from you, they provoke an opportunity attack from you.
So now we can shoot from melee with no penalty, but it requires us to be using a melee weapon. This means that it isn't compatible with shot'n'shield or twin pistols builds. What it is compatible with is spellcasting, particularly since one of the more common spell foci (the staff) happens to also be a melee weapon. This isn't just about using ranged attacks from melee, sword'n'shot is a type of TWF build, and this allows us to still make that TWF bonus action attack with no penalty while in melee. You could also grab a light melee weapon and use the hand crossbow for your main attacks, and the melee weapon for the BA attack. Or for the parry-and-riposte feature of the two-weapon fighting style, if you get both fighting styles.
Now about that opportunity attack. It won't be as common as you might think, since it only triggers on ending their turn in the sweet spot. They can move through that area without triggering it as long as they don't stop there. They can also close to melee range to avoid it, and in fact are encouraged to do so. So you can consider this another type of tanking fighting style. Note that the OA doesn't require a melee weapon, so any ranged weapon user can make use of it. Of course, you'll find that difficult if an enemy closes to melee range with you and you aren't holding a melee weapon. Oddly, it can also be used with reach weapons, though the sweet spot is much narrower. Finally, it can also be used with spells, though it requires Warcaster to replace the OA with a spell.
I am so glad that's over. Please feel free to offer your criticisms and suggestions. I know there's a lot here that can be improved.
Also I just realized I completely forgot about mounted combat. I'm too tired to handle that now, so you can either pretend I didn't say I was removing Mounted Combatant, or you can give me some suggestions and I'll add it in later.
While thinking about this, I wasn't sure what features should be feats and what features should be fighting styles. Fortunately, Fighting Initiate is a feat, so I've decided to just make them all fighting styles. This means I'm actually going to be removing a bunch of feats. To wit: Crossbow Expert, Defensive Duelist, Dual Wielder, Great Weapon Master, Gunner, Heavy/Medium Armor Master, Mounted Combatant, Polearm Master, Sharpshooter, Shield Master, and Tavern Brawler. These feats are no more. In their place is a whole host of new fighting styles that grant comparable benefits.
I'll be splitting this post up according to specific loadouts (e.g. what kind of weapons you're using). Each section will generally contain a list of changes that apply to all characters, requiring no investment to benefit (beyond proficiency with the weapons and armor you're using), followed by the fighting style(s) designed for that particular loadout. Now, there will also be a lot of crossover between these. Fighting styles won't be so narrow that they only apply to one type of weapon, they'll just give the greatest benefits when using that type of weapon.
Anyway, let's get started.
Armor
Before we get into weapons, let's go ahead and get armor and the Defense fighting style out of the way. The inspiration here is obviously drawn from HAM, and skews towards making heavy armor, and thus STR, more appealing. We're not taking anything away from lightly armored DEX builds, so they're just as effective as before, if not more so, we're just adding a new benefit to heavier armor.
New Rule - Armored Defense. Wearing armor not only reduces the odds of taking a direct hit, but it also reduces the damage taken when you do. Any creature wearing armor reduces any bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage they take. Light armor reduces this damage by 1, medium armor by 2, and heavy armor by 3.
On a case-by-case basis, the DM may allow a character with some kind of unarmored AC bonus to also benefit from a similar form of damage reduction. The DM may choose to set this damage reduction to a specific number, or set it equal to that character's Constitution modifier.
This is pretty simple and straightforward. Damage reduction is always helpful, but especially against hordes of weaker enemies. Warriors in plate will have an easier time handling hordes of goblins and such without any AoE. And this is freely given to any character wearing armor. That does mean it applies to enemies, too, but most monsters don't wear armor.
What about the fighting style?
New Fighting Style - Defense. The damage reduction granted by wearing armor (or from unarmored bonuses) now applies to all damage, except psychic damage.
What can I say? The bear totem barbarian had a pretty decent idea.
Sword'n'Board
One of the issues with sword'n'board in vanilla is that by increasing your own defensive ability you actually discourage enemies from targeting you. If you're trying to build a tank who protects their allies, the system is working against you here, as enemies are encouraged to attack someone they're more likely to hit. The Protection fighting style is a nice way to balance this out, so it's a shame it's locked behind a fighting style. Let's change that.
New Rule - Shield Wall. Any creature proficient in the use of shields is able to use them to guard nearby allies. When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.
New Rule - Shield Cover. The bonus to AC granted by shields now also applies to Dexterity saving throws.
One of the benefits of Shield Master is now available to everyone, making shields that much more defensive. This will be important when we get to the new Protection fighting style. More importantly, shields are now better at fulfilling a tanking role by allowing you to actively protect your party members. Now enemies have to attack you, because if they don't you'll just impose disadvantage on their attacks against someone else.
New Fighting Style - Protection. You've mastered the use of a shield to deflect attacks. You gain the following benefits while wielding a shield:
When you succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against an effect where you take half damage on a successful saving throw, you may use your reaction to instead take no damage.
At the same time you use the above reaction, you can angle your shield to deflect that effect. Choose a direction and creatures in a line 5 feet wide originating from your position take only half damage from that effect on a failed saving throw, and no damage on a successful saving throw.
Now we're talking. An Evasion-like effect not only for yourself, but also for other members of your party. It does require you to pass the save first, and it does use a reaction, and it does only affect a line, and it does only affect that one effect, but that's still pretty baller. Now the decision to use a shield and pick up the Protection fighting style allows you to play a much more active role in defending your party. Just the idea that your party can hide behind your shield and allow you to entirely negate a dragon's breath weapon is really cool, and makes this a very appealing choice.
Shot'n'Shield
Of course, melee weapons aren't the only things that can be used with shields.
New Rule - Reloading Ranged Weapons. Weapons with the ammunition property no longer require a free hand to reload.
Remember when I said this post was originally going to be about a sword'n'shot fighting style? This is one of those changes that was necessary to make that possible, so that you can reload the hand crossbow while you have a weapon in your other hand. But it also immediately enables the use of a sling or hand crossbow with a shield. Which I think is fine. The biggest problem with this was the Crossbow Expert feat, allowing you to benefit from a shield and get a bonus action attack and be able to attack from range and suffer no penalty for being in melee. But Crossbow Expert doesn't exist anymore. This is basically the ranged version of sword'n'board, and has similar trade-offs compared to using a stronger bow or crossbow. And anyway, you can get basically the same result with throwing weapons, so I don't see the point in not allowing it to work with one-handed ranged weapons, too.
Two-Weapon Fighting / Twin Pistols
TWF is actually pretty strong at low levels, it just drops off at higher levels. It also suffered pretty severe niche displacement because of PAM and CE, which again, are no more. TWF is one of those things that I'm not actually sure what the best way to improve on it is. But I've got to have something, so I'll take a stab at it.
New Rule - Sword and Dagger. You can now use two-weapon fighting with any light weapon, not just melee weapons. Furthermore, only the weapon used to make the bonus action attack needs to have the light property.
Two things: First, you can now use a rapier and dagger together, as God intended. This prevents TWF from being a drain on Extra Attack by gimping your main hand attacks. Second, this also enables a "twin pistols" loadout, and since hand crossbows already have the light property (likely because they were originally intended to be used with TWF, but this was scrapped for some reason), no further change is needed to dual-wield hand crossbows. So while CE has been removed, there's still a way to get a BA attack with a hand crossbow, and it doesn't require a feat or even a fighting style. Speaking of fighting styles...
New Fighting Style - Two-Weapon Fighting. You have mastered the difficult art of fighting with two weapons. You gain the following benefits:
You can draw or sheathe any number of weapons as part of the same object interaction.
When you are hit by a melee attack, you may use your reaction to roll the damage die of a light melee weapon you are holding and add the result to your AC against that attack. If you roll the highest value on that damage die, the attack misses automatically and you may make an opportunity attack against the attacker as part of the same reaction.
Obligatory quick-draw so you can get both weapons out at the same time, but also a nice parry-and-riposte. Note that a larger damage die on the light weapon gives more of an AC bonus, but a smaller damage die has a higher chance of triggering the automatic miss and riposte. So there's actually a viable reason to use a dagger instead of a shortsword. Also note that nothing here actually requires you to use two weapons. It just benefits more if you are. That's going to be a recurring theme in this thread.
Two-Handed Weapons
We've given a lot of love to shield-users, so let's share that affection with two-handers.
New Rule - Cleave. When a melee attack reduces an undamaged creature to 0 hit points, any excess damage from that attack might carry over to another creature nearby. The attacker targets another creature within reach and, if the original attack roll can hit it, applies any remaining damage to it. If that creature was undamaged and is likewise reduced to 0 hit points, repeat this process, carrying over the remaining damage until there are no valid targets, or until the damage carried over fails to reduce an undamaged creature to 0 hit points.
New Rule - Power Attack. When make an attack with a weapon wielded in two hands with which you are proficient, you may choose to forgo adding your proficiency bonus to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you can then add twice your proficiency bonus to the damage roll.
That first one is just the optional rule for cleaving through multiple targets from the DMG. I haven't changed anything about it. Note that it's not limited to two-handed weapons, but a weapon that deals more damage will be more likely to reduce an undamaged creature to 0 HP. Power attacks are instead of the -5/+10 feature from GWM and SS, and yes, it works with ranged weapons as long as they're used with two hands (so no hand crossbows). When taken together, a power attack with a two-handed weapon becomes more likely to reduce an undamaged creature to 0 HP, and thus cleave through an additional target.
So from here, there's a bit of an issue. See, a weapon like a greatsword is very different from a weapon like a pike. I don't think they are meant to fill the same role, and I think it's more interesting to give each one their own niche. So that's what I'm going to do. Three separate fighting styles, one for each BPS damage type. This adds a flare of variety, and makes the choice between those three damage types a bit more meaningful without forcing that complexity on the players. It only matters because you chose the specific fighting style that made it matter.
Greatsword / Greataxe
Based on what I know about greatswords, where they truly excel is in fighting multiple opponents. Those wide, sweeping arcs keep enemies at bay, and, potentially, can strike down several opponents in a single blow if they're foolish enough to get in the path of your blade.
New Fighting Style - Horde Fighting. You've mastered the art of fighting against multiple opponents with a sword or axe. You gain the following benefits:
You can cleave through opponents even if they enemy being reduced to 0 hit points isn't undamaged.
When you cleave with a slashing weapon, it deals an additional 1d6 slashing damage to each additional enemy struck after the initial attack.
You'll notice nothing here requires a greatsword, or even a greataxe. The first benefit applies to any weapon, and the second benefit applies to any slashing weapon. But again, to get the most out of this fighting style you'll want to be dealing lots of damage. And the best way to do that is by power attacking with a greatsword. This is the fighting style of choice if you want to sometimes decapitate four goblins in a single blow. If your damage rolls are good. And you don't miss. Notice that cleaving now acts a bit more like the BA attack from GWM, since it triggers every time you reduce an enemy to 0 HP.
Greathammer
I'll be honest, this is one of the places where I feel like I need a little help. I have to come up with something, so here it is, but I'm open to suggestions for alternatives.
The most salient feature of blunt weapons is their heft. When you get hit, you feel it. It knocks you off your feet, and not always just figuratively. They're also ideal weapons for dealing with armored foes. So let's see what we can do with that.
New Fighting Style - Hammer Fighting. You've mastered the use of blunt weapons to knock opponents down and crack through armor. You gain the following benefits:
Bludgeoning damage you deal ignores the damage reduction given by the Armored Defense rule.
You can power attack with a weapon even if you aren't wielding it in two hands.
When you hit a creature with a power attack, you can choose to do additional damage equal to your proficiency bonus instead of twice your proficiency bonus. When you do so, you can immediately attempt to shove that creature as part of the attack.
Continuing the trend, only the first benefit specifically requires a bludgeoning weapon (not even that, just bludgeoning damage, which could be a spell!). I suppose this isn't even a greathammer fighting style, as it seems geared more toward one-handed weapons. I might actually remove the middle feature, which would then require a two-handed weapon to use the third feature.
Polearms
Before we get into weapons like pikes, let's first address some of the shorter options.
New Rule - Double-Ended Weapons. A double-ended weapon that is wielded in both hands uses the rules for two-weapon fighting, as if the weapon's other end was a separate weapon. Each weapon with the double-ended property will show how much damage it deals and what type of damage next to the double-ended property.
Spears, tridents, and quarterstaves are no longer versatile weapons. Instead, each of these weapons now has the double-ended property.
Quarterstaff, double-ended (1d6 bludgeoning)
Spear, thrown (20/60 feet), double-ended (1d4 bludgeoning)
Trident, thrown (20/60 feet), double-ended (1d6 bludgeoning)
Oh look, it's the BA attack from PAM. Just like CE, the BA attack was integrated using the TWF rules. That means the quarterstaff/spear and shield cheese is no more. But we've given shield users some nice things to make up for that loss.
New Fighting Style - Polearm Fighting. You've mastered the use of spears, pikes, and other polearms to hold a defensive position against advancing enemies. You gain the following benefits:
While wielding a piercing melee weapon, a creature you can see provokes an opportunity attack from you when it enters your reach.
You can treat a creature within your reach as if it were within 5 feet of you. For example, you can impose disadvantage on that creature's ranged attacks, and if the creature is prone your own attacks are not at disadvantage.
There's the other benefit of PAM. Though weirdly it now applies to things like rapiers and daggers. This fighting style also removes some of the penalties that came with not being within 5 feet of your target when attacking them with a reach weapon. So it nudges you toward things like pikes, but again the benefits apply more broadly.
Ranged Weapons
We've actually already covered quite a few tweaks to ranged combat:
You can reload ammunition weapons without a free hand.
You can use ranged weapons with TWF. This is instead of the CE BA attack.
You can power attack with ranged weapons. This is instead of the SS -5/+10.
We'll address shooting from melee when we cover sword'n'shot, so all that leaves us with is ignoring cover and extending range. I suppose there's also ignoring the loading property, which I haven't managed to fit in anywhere, but it might actually be more interesting not to negate it. In which case, a twin pistols build on someone with Extra Attack will probably use a sling for your main weapon and hand crossbow for the off-hand. Or you could take advantage of the TWF style's quickdraw to draw a loaded hand crossbow with each attack and sheathe it afterwards. Six men with guns? More like one guy with six guns.
Anyway, back on topic.
New Fighting Style - Sharpshooter. Your skill with ranged weapons is legendary, with unparalleled accuracy and even the ability to curve your shots slightly. You gain the following benefits:
Your range with all ranged weapons is doubled.
You can treat a target with half cover as having no cover, and three-quarters cover as half cover.
If there is a space within 5 feet of a creature behind full cover that you could shoot to, and there isn't full cover between that space and the creature, you can treat that creature as having three-quarters cover.
You can cleave with ranged attacks, but each target you cleave through must be along a line 5 feet wide originating from you and passing through the space of your original target.
Some of these features are weaker than Sharpshooter, and some stronger. Double range means you can only shoot a longbow at 300 feet without penalty, but you can shoot at up to 1200 feet with a penalty. Cover is only downgraded one step, instead of being completely ignored, but you can even shoot creatures at the edge of full cover. Finally, being able to pierce through multiple enemies should be fun. It at least makes power attacking weak enemies less of a waste.
Thrown Weapons
I'll be honest, I'm running out of steam, and don't really have a plan here, but I feel compelled to include something. Let's see what we can do real quick to make throwing weapons better.
New Rule - Draw and Throw. When you make a ranged attack with a weapon with the thrown property, you can draw that weapon as part of the attack.
This solves the biggest issue throwing weapons had. After all, you can somehow pull out multiple arrows, so why not do the same for darts and javelins? But where to go from here? I suppose we can look at how throwing weapons are often used in movies and such. And often they're used as distractions or to pin someone momentarily.
New Fighting Style - Throwing Fighter. You've practiced throwing weapons so much that your speed and accuracy are unparalleled. You gain the following benefits:
You can throw any weapon without penalty. For you, any weapon you are proficient with has the thrown property with a range of 20/60 feet.
Your range with weapons that already have the thrown property is doubled.
When you throw a weapon that deals piercing damage, you can choose to pin that enemy instead of harming them. If you succeed on your attack roll, you deal no damage, and instead reduce that creature's speed to 0 until it uses an action to pull itself free.
When you throw a weapon that deals slashing or bludgeoning damage, you can attempt to distract that creature. On a hit, the attack deals half the normal damage, and if the damage rolled is higher than that creature's Wisdom score, it has disadvantage on its next attack.
Okay, good enough I suppose. We're nearly done, and I am very much looking forward to doing something else. If you have suggestions for something better, I'm open to them.
Unarmed
This is the last one before we get to sword'n'shot. We have to take care not to step on the monk's toes too much. At the same time, it would be nice if this also provided a benefit to monks.
New Rule - One Two Punch. If you have at least one empty hand, you can use the two-weapon fighting rules to make an unarmed strike as a bonus action. As per the rules for two-weapon fighting, this does not add your ability modifier to the damage roll, and two-weapon fighting can't be used with weapons wielded in two hands.
New Fighting Style - Brawler. You don't need a weapon because you are one. You can kill someone with a pencil. You gain the following benefits:
You are proficient with improvised weapons.
Your unarmed strikes and improvised weapons deal 1d6 damage.
After you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or improvised weapon, you can grapple or shove that creature as a bonus action.
You can use Constitution instead of Strength for ability checks made to grapple or shove.
I'm not completely happy with this, but it'll do for now. I might come back and tweak it later, and I'm also open to suggestions.
CON grappling is mostly for DEX builds, since lots of people dump STR but no one dumps CON. No one maxes CON, either, but no one dumps it. So it makes you not terrible but not amazing as a grappler.
Sword'n'Shot
Alright, it's the thing that originally spawned this thread. To make this particular loadout functional, we had to make a few tweaks to the existing rules before even getting to fighting styles. First, we needed to get rid of Crossbow Expert, as it rendered a sword'n'shot style of fighting entirely moot. Second, we needed to allow one-handed reloads. No, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but yes, we needed it to make this work mechanically. Finally, we needed ranged weapons to work with TWF. Now that the groundwork has been laid, let's get right into the fighting style.
New Fighting Style - Skirmisher. You've trained in fighting in close quarters with both melee and ranged weapons. You gain the following benefits:
While you are wielding a melee weapon, being within 5 feet of a hostile creature doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged attack rolls.
When a creature you can see ends their turn within 30 feet of you but more than 5 feet from you, they provoke an opportunity attack from you.
So now we can shoot from melee with no penalty, but it requires us to be using a melee weapon. This means that it isn't compatible with shot'n'shield or twin pistols builds. What it is compatible with is spellcasting, particularly since one of the more common spell foci (the staff) happens to also be a melee weapon. This isn't just about using ranged attacks from melee, sword'n'shot is a type of TWF build, and this allows us to still make that TWF bonus action attack with no penalty while in melee. You could also grab a light melee weapon and use the hand crossbow for your main attacks, and the melee weapon for the BA attack. Or for the parry-and-riposte feature of the two-weapon fighting style, if you get both fighting styles.
Now about that opportunity attack. It won't be as common as you might think, since it only triggers on ending their turn in the sweet spot. They can move through that area without triggering it as long as they don't stop there. They can also close to melee range to avoid it, and in fact are encouraged to do so. So you can consider this another type of tanking fighting style. Note that the OA doesn't require a melee weapon, so any ranged weapon user can make use of it. Of course, you'll find that difficult if an enemy closes to melee range with you and you aren't holding a melee weapon. Oddly, it can also be used with reach weapons, though the sweet spot is much narrower. Finally, it can also be used with spells, though it requires Warcaster to replace the OA with a spell.
I am so glad that's over. Please feel free to offer your criticisms and suggestions. I know there's a lot here that can be improved.
Also I just realized I completely forgot about mounted combat. I'm too tired to handle that now, so you can either pretend I didn't say I was removing Mounted Combatant, or you can give me some suggestions and I'll add it in later.