Ulsan Krow
2022-08-27, 07:15 AM
Rebalancing changes for the Fighter and various Martial Archetypes
To summarise what this is: it's a laundry list of changes to Fighter and some of its subclass' features, with the goal of increasing the Fighter's overall versatility at mid to high levels, and to increasing the power of some relatively 'undertuned' Martial Archetypes. But, with as little 'homebrew' as possible: no significant new (read as, not already implemented in the game) functionality, mostly just some shuffling around and number adjustments or flavor text. Furthermore, there are no overhauls to what the class or subclasses actually do. The goal is rather a rebalance of the official Fighter, that includes no combat maneuver integration into the base chassis as is popularly done in design overhauls for this class. Think of this thread as more of an attempt at a patch than a fresh edition.
Changes to the Fighter Class
Remarkable Athlete. Gets added at 9th level as a base class feature (where the Fighter obtains the first use of Indomitable). Optionally it scales at 17th level to add full proficiency bonus instead of half, like so:
Remarkable Athlete
Starting at 9th level, you can add half your proficiency bonus (rounded up) to any Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution check you make that doesn't already use your proficiency bonus. At 17th level, you add your full proficiency bonus instead.
In addition, when you make a running long jump, the distance you can cover increases by a number of feet equal to your Strength modifier.
Additional Fighting Style. Gets added at 13th level as a base class feature (where the Fighter obtains a second use of Indomitable).
Alternatively to Remarkable Athlete improving to full proficiency at 17th level, a stronger and more combat oriented increase to Fighter's power level may feel more suitable - Indomitable could improve instead. At 17th level Indomitable functions like Legendary Resistance, like so:
Indomitable
Beginning at 9th level, you can reroll a saving throw that you fail. If you do so, you must use the new roll, and you can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest. At 17th level, you automatically succeed on the failed saving throw, instead of rerolling.
You can use this feature twice between long rests starting at 13th level and three times between long rests starting at 17th level.
Explanation
Fighter fights well enough, but especially with the base class chassis it is lacking in versatility by the mid to high levels in and out of combat. Even though this is an intentional design choice for the class being the combat specialist as well as being the 'blank slate' for martial classes (in that too much flavor in ribbons would obviously clash with that purpose) it could still do with a little more. The level 7 ribbon feature (or level 3 bonus proficiencies/cantrips for some Archetypes like Arcane Archer and Cavalier) are meant to alleviate this in the social and/or exploration pillars but it's obviously a little paltry overall. Remarkable Athlete fits the general thematic space of the Fighter as the generic Champion is meant to, here its another free boost to the breadth of your versatility outside of combat, as well as a combat buff in the shape of an increase to your Initiative roll. Here it's given for free and it gets better at 17th level without breaking 5e's Bounded Accuracy rules.
A single fighting style built into the class encourages you to specialise and Fighting Initiate competes with ASIs and better feat options that also lean into specialisation. Additional Fighting Style could end up a +1 AC increase for said specialists, an extra maneuver die per short rest, or it could improve the Fighter's ability to be a weapon generalist with a non overlapping style pick. It's not a huge buff but it's not a linear power increase which Fighter doesn't need so much, but it's extra versatility for what the Fighter should do best.
Another balance fix proposed here is scaling up Indomitable into a Legendary Resistance clone by level 17. 17th level, being the transition point to the highest tier of play as 'Masters of the Realm', should see a serious boon in your advancement, comparable to 9th level spells for casters or 5th level spells for half-casters. The addition of a scaling Remarkable Athlete is intended to serve this purpose across across a neglected pillar of play. The Indomitable improvement could be added in place of or together with an improved Remarkable Athlete for the same reason but for the combat pillar instead. At higher levels, Indomitable is notorious for scaling poorly in comparison to the increasing saving throws the Fighter is subject to. This change is extremely powerful and if you don't find your Fighter's issues pertain to their durability in encounters then the Remarkable Athlete improvement might make more sense for your table.
If in the 17-20 range your Fighter feels too displaced outside of combat, but is faring well in it, consider the Remarkable Athlete 17th level improvement. If you are mostly concerned with underperformance in combat consider the Indomitable improvement instead. If there are glaring issues both in and out of combat, consider adding them together. But factor in the following Martial Archetype changes (largely combat oriented) first, the Arcane Archer, Battlemaster, Cavalier, Purple Dragon Knight and Samurai all see varying degrees of changes.
Changes to Martial Archetypes
Overall goals
Some changes are made to improve the power level of the undertuned (Arcane Archer, Banneret/Purple Dragon Knight, Battlemaster from tier 3+ onwards) to what I consider a reasonable target level (Echo Knight, Eldritch Knight, Psi Warrior, Rune Knight, Cavalier and Samurai). Cavalier and Samurai are given small adjustments for their own reasons provided in their respective design notes. Champion is not here because some of the features got divvied up into the base Fighter chassis, requiring replacement with some decidedly more 'homebrew' features and design overall. An idea for the other 3 features not integrated into the Fighter - the Improved Critical and Superior Critical could probably be awarded to a certain DPR starved class with a certain Brutal Critical (and at the same levels - though offering Survivor as well, at 17th, is likely a little more questionable). A compatible Champion with these adjustments requires a more substantive rework, which not in line with the design philosophy of these particular changes.
Arcane Archer
Arcane Shot. You have a number of uses equal to your Intelligence modifier (with a minimum of 2 uses). The damage improvements are moved from 18th to 15th level. Like so:
Arcane Shot
At 3rd level, you learn to unleash special magical effects with some of your shots. When you gain this feature, you learn two Arcane Shot options of your choice (see "Arcane Shot Options" below).
Once per turn when you fire an arrow from a shortbow or longbow as part of the Attack action, you can apply one of your Arcane Shot options to that arrow. You decide to use the option when the arrow hits, unless the option doesn’t involve an attack roll. You have a number of uses of this ability equal to your Intelligence modifier (a minimum of twice), and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a short or long rest.
You gain an additional Arcane Shot option of your choice when you reach certain levels in this class: 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level. Each option also improves when you become a 15th level fighter.
Ever-Ready Shot. Moved to 10th level from 15th level, in line with the Samurai's equivalent. Also, recharges regardless of how many uses of Arcane Shot remain, like so:
Ever-Ready Shot
Starting at 10th level, your magical archery is available whenever battle starts. When you roll initiative, you regain one use of Arcane Shot if you have less than your maximum number of uses remaining.
At 18th level, you gain a capstone feat instead. A potential, 'vanilla' replacement (to those damage increases moved to 15th level) could look something like adding your Dexterity modifier or imposing disadvantage on the saving throw for Arcane Shot effects, like so:
Arcane Sharpshooter
At 18th level, your deft archery renders your magic more arduous to overcome. If your Arcane Shot requires a saving throw, you add your Dexterity modifier (a minimum of one) to the save DC.
or,
Empowered Shot
At 18th level, your magical archery is arduous to overcome. Your targets have disadvantage on saving throws made against your Arcane Shot.
Explanation
A minimum of twice makes more sense than a minimum of once (like for Cavalier’s 2 ability modifier scaling features). This for two reasons: first of all, the Arcane Shot resource constitutes a substantially greater chunk of Arcane Archer’s overall power than its contemporaries from the Cavalier. It’s the vast majority of what it can meaningfully do, especially at 3rd level. As a result, the fluctuation in power level between a Cavalier with one use of the expendable resource portion of Unwavering Mark (and Warding Maneuver), and with five, is much smaller than the difference between an Arcane Archer with one use versus five of its core feature. Secondly, Cavalier’s features key off of Strength and Constitution, which a Cavalier Fighter should and will invest in regardless of its placement as a. This is optional build diversity by the Cavalier and this is good design. Comparatively, with a minimum of one use for Arcane Archer, the Arcane Archer must go out of its way to pump up Intelligence practically as a mandate, and to a degree that the Cavalier is not at all obligated to. This is not optional build diversity, and this is not good design. Furthermore, even if the majority of Arcane Archers do choose to max out both Dexterity and Intelligence scores, they have the choice between first building toward Dexterity or first investing in Intelligence with both choices conferring their own distinct advantages on top of DPR.
As is, the Arcane Archer doesn't gain an actual feat at level 10, which is odd. I like Samurai getting their core feature recharge mechanic at level 10 in Tireless Spirit, I like the same for Arcane Archer here for both the purposes of design consistency, to fill this missing slot, and to improve the subclass’s power level sooner.
Additionally, with the change to Arcane Shot that opens up the potential of more uses per rest than the current two, it becomes more important and useful that the Arcane Archer gets to recharge their resource even when they still have uses leftover during initiative rolls. As it is right now, to see more use (or as it goes quite often, any use of Ever-Ready Shot at all), the Arcane Archer is encouraged to nova and expend their entire subclass resource pool as soon as possible. Recharging on a short rest, take the case of a party that sees two encounters per short rest, here the Arcane Archer is almost always going to expend both uses in the first encounter to see any functionality and optimal play, and that detracts heavily from the tactical side of resource management. With the Arcane Shot change, the potential for even more Arcane Shots per short rest keying off of Intelligence exacerbates this problem of being pushed to burn resources as much and as soon as possible; with the once per turn limit on Arcane Shot usage you may not have a chance to ever see use of Ever-Ready Shot at all with an Intelligence modifier of 5, depending on encounter duration. In summary, this is intended to be a buff to Arcane Archer’s power and to offer more flexibility with how you choose to ration your resource pool.
As for the suggested capstones that supplants the damage increase shifted to 15th level, the Arcane Archer has most likely maxed Dexterity, Intelligence, or both. The actual effects of your shot options never get stronger as you level; with either capstone suggested here, they at least become significantly more likely to take hold.
Battlemaster
Improved Combat Superiority. At 10th level, your superiority dice turn into d10s (unchanged). At 15th level, they turn into d12s (rather than 18th level).
Relentless. Moved to 10th level from 15th level. Also, recharges regardless of how many uses of superiority die remain, like so:
Relentless
Starting at 10th level, when you roll initiative, you regain one superiority die if you have less than your maximum number of dice remaining.
At 18th level, you gain a capstone feat instead. Here are two potential replacements, a Reliable Talent import for maneuvers:
Perfect Technique
At 18th level, you have honed your maneuvers to perfection. You can treat a superiority die roll of 6 or less as a 6.
or, a Stroke of Luck style feat:
Perfect Technique
At 18th level, you have honed your maneuvers to perfection. When you expend a superiority die, you can treat the superiority die roll as a 12. You must use this feature before you roll the die.
You can use this feature 3 times. You regain all expended uses when you finish a short or long rest.
Explanation
Good at low to mid levels, but scale’s notoriously poorly past that point. I considered giving 2 + proficiency bonus maneuvers to nudge it closer to the modern WOTC philosophy on how limited, non magical resources scale. However, with the power bump of a real capstone this could easily be superfluous, and on top of that, can easily wind up too powerful together with multiclassing.
Also reiterating this point, I don’t like how the initiative recharging feats like Relentless, Tireless Spirit and Ever-Ready Arrow encourage you to nova willy nilly and burn your resources early rather than expend them more judiciously. Especially when so many tables are unlikely to go even beyond 2 encounters between short rests, it just feels like bad design to demand the Battlemaster to burn up to 6 or more superiority die in the first encounter to even see use of their feature. Lastly, in comparison to its contemporaries like Ever-Ready Shot and Tireless Spirit, the value of a single maneuver is not intended to match the worth of those other resources. Regaining 1 superiority die is not commensurate to regaining 1 use of Fighting Spirit or Arcane Shot; hence, it seems reasonable to move it to 10th level in line with those feats, where Relentless is paired with an increase to the size of your dice to match their equivalent boon.
Cavalier
Ferocious Charger. Now, it scales with the number of feet you move, like so:
If you move at least 10 feet in a straight line right before attacking a creature and you hit it with the attack, that target must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier) or be knocked prone. The DC of this saving throw increases by 1 for each additional 10 feet in a straight line you move before making the attack. You can use this feature only once on each of your turns.
Explanation
I do like this subclass and it's reasonably strong across all level ranges, but it doesn't really benefit you to use mounts at all and this one particular feature is a bit too unreliable for the level range it targets. Just a small addition to remedy both of these minor quibbles.
Ferocious Charger. This feat targets a Strength saving throw which is not particularly easy to bypass at 15th level where it given. It has no limit to the number of uses per short or long rest, but prone is not that powerful either so it's within reason to make this effect a little easier to trigger. Spamming it isn't going to change the game but there may be more opportunities to use it now, and it does encourage taking advantage of the movement speed mounts provide.
Purple Dragon Knight (Banneret)
Rallying Cry. You restore hitpoints to allies equal to your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier instead of your flat Fighter level, like so:
Rallying Cry
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you learn how to inspire your allies to fight on past their injuries.
When you use your Second Wind feature, you can choose up to three creatures within 60 feet of you that are allied with you. Each one regains hit points equal to your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier (a minimum of 1).
Inspiring Surge. Moved to 3rd level from 10th level, superseding Rallying Cry as the 'core' feature of the class. The second improvement to Inspiring Surge (choosing two allies instead of one) is moved to 15th level from 18th.
Bulwark. Moved to 10th level from 15th level, and adds your Charisma modifier to the ally reroll, like so:
Bulwark
Beginning at 10th level, you can extend the benefit of your Indomitable feature to an ally. When you decide to use Indomitable to reroll an Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma saving throw and you aren't incapacitated, you can choose one ally within 60 feet of you that also failed its saving throw against the same effect. If that creature can see or hear you, it can reroll its saving throw and must use the new roll. They add your Charisma modifier to the roll (a minimum of one).
A capstone is added in place of the Inspiring Surge improvement that is moved to 15th level. One adds your Charisma modifier to Inspiring Surge attack rolls, the other stronger capstone adds your Charisma modifier to the d20 instead, like so:
Greater Inspiration
Starting at 18th level, any melee or ranged weapon attack provided by your Inspiring Surge feature adds your Charisma modifier to the attack roll.
Or, the much stronger version:
Greater Inspiration
Starting at 18th level, any melee or ranged weapon attack provided by your Inspiring Surge feature adds your Charisma modifier to the d20 used in the attack roll (for a maximum roll of 20).
Explanation
At low levels the Purple Dragon Knight is brutally weak in every way; by level 20 it’s still in a lamentable state. The purpose of these changes is not to redo the questionable design choice (of tying its features to the base chassis and the reduction of player agency in doing such), but to bring its power level more in line with better fighter subclasses at lower levels, and in line with better classes overall, at higher levels.
First off, it’s unacceptable that the Purple Dragon Knight’s main and only functionality at 3rd level is a pitiful 3 hitpoint heal. While it scales well it’s problematically weak at the levels where it’s meant to rival the firepower of other Fighter subclasses. Furthermore it's the rare Martial Archetype that does not directly increase the DPR of yourself or the party whatsoever, right until 10th level, where the majority of campaigns are already finished. Lastly, it's a single use ability that keys off of one the precious few resources the Fighter class has. It's not a fun or tactically whelming experience for your core and only subclass feature to be one that activates once a short rest, and off of one of your select few resources that require a semblance of agency.
With Inspiring Surge moved to 3rd level as the ‘core feature’ of the class, an improved Bulwark at 10th, and a proper capstone at 18th level, the power level of Rallying Cry can rest a little easier at mid to late game. It should still be roughly as strong as it is early on, scale to a much slighter extent by default, and require some ASI investment to improve further. You also have more options now at 3rd through 9th level, or at least, the feeling of getting to do more things and 'activate' your subclass more often than is currently the case.
Next, a capstone at 18th level being a direct double up on what was a 10th level feature is not a great look. It’s diminishing returns, the same way choosing more maneuver options is increasingly impotent: the second player in the party you target with Inspiring Surge is going to be at best, comparably worthwhile to your first player affected. It’s no longer the rogue of the party who gets to benefit from sneak attack on a reaction attack outside of their turn; its another martial who doesn’t get to inflict nearly as much damage with a single attack. Or worse, there’s no other available choice at all, whether the second martial player is out of position to attack, doesn’t exist, or if that reaction would be better spent doing other things. You have to juggle the usage of Action Surge, with the most opportune time for your teammate to burn their reaction, and now you have a second teammate to consider, very rarely are you in an optimal position for both teammates to make the most of a reaction weapon attack. Diminishing returns. It’s simply too underwhelming to be a capstone in itself.
There are two capstone choices offered here, one is meant to be merely satisfactory, the other is intended to be incredibly powerful. You increase the critical range of the weapon attacks granted by up to 5. It does require investment in Charisma to get to that level of madness. But, if you like subclass capstones to provide crazy firepower, here’s an example you might like to try it out.
Overall it’s also just to incentivise (it may be clear by this point that I love this phrase) build diversity once more, with Bulwark, the 7th level double proficiency, and eventually, Inspiring Surge all keying off of Charisma. By design, Charisma should be trivial and unproblematic to neglect early on. Early on where spare ASIs are sparse and hard to come by, pumping Charisma isn‚’t so critical as it doesn’t fuel anything but Rallying Cry, but as that Persuasion double proficiency, 10th level Bulwark and 18th level Greater Inspiration kick in one by one ideally those ASIs can see tempting new avenues of use that might be worthwhile.
Samurai
Fighting Spirit. Uses that scale equal to your Wisdom modifier. Here you have a number of uses equal to your Wisdom modifier (with a minimum of 3 uses) and that still recharge upon taking a long rest, like so:
Fighting Spirit
Starting at 3rd level, your intensity in battle can shield you and help you strike true. As a bonus action on your turn, you can give yourself advantage on all weapon attack rolls until the end of the current turn. When you do so, you also gain 5 temporary hit points. The number of hit points increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 10 at 10th level and 15 at 15th level.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of three times). You regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.
Tireless Spirit. Regain 1 use of Fighting Spirit regardless of whether or not you have uses remaining, like so:
Tireless Spirit
Starting at 10th level, when you roll initiative, you regain one use of Fighting Spirit if you have less than your maximum number of uses remaining.
Explanation
First off, I'm not fond of the Archetype name. If you are like me you might be interested in these generic setting names in its stead: Vassal, Warrior Poet, Liege. The features are about an intangible fighting spirit (a generic Fighter idea), a final stand before death (also a generic Fighter idea), attacking rapidly (a generic Fighter idea so generic it first appeared in UA playtesting as a feature of other proposed subclasses like Sharpshooter), and solid diplomacy skills, the first real individual flavor of the class. A Vassal and their Liege both convey this idea well. If you dislike the possible association of a background connoted by those names, Warrior Poet is a bit clunkier but conveys the theme at least as well.
Now feature wise though, I think that just like Cavalier it is well balanced power level wise. Both have some really strong high level feats, Rapid Strike in Samurai's case. Here I want to add just a small change that is not going to automatically increase the firepower of the class without some investment, but leaves the option.
As with the others I like this resource scaling with a secondary modifier because it adds genuine build diversity with regard to ability scores.This isn‚’t intended to be a linear increase in power but to open up the availabillity of a sidegrade. Having a Fighter subclass that specialises in Wisdom and has encouraged synergy with Wisdom subclasses sounds like a fun idea to me. While high Wisdom is more than likely still suboptimal compared to other ways to optimize the Samurai, at least the option is there and rewards you for it with DPR, durability, and improved social pillar interaction all at once together with the Wisdom saving throw proficiency and bonus to Persuasion checks the level 7 feat provides. But nonetheless, a higher minimum of 3 rather than the typical 1 is called for, as to keep it exactly that - an option.
Tireless Spirit also sees the same change as Ever-Ready Shot and Relentless. This one is a little stronger than those other two since Fighting Spirit recharges on a long rest. Over the course of a typical adventuring day (for the average table, not the DMG's 6-8 suggestion), you should usually see either no additional uses of Fighting Spirit than is currently supplied, or one more use of Fighting Spirit. At a push you might end up with two more in per day than is currently the case. The only situation you would see three more uses of Fighting Spirit than currently is in the very situational case that you would currently choose to only burn one use of Fighting Spirit within the first three encounters of a Long Rest. This is because once you acquire Tireless Spirit as is, burning two uses and conserving a third is pointless: you would retain the same number of uses per future encounter if you used the third also. Hence, I would not consider this an overtuned increase to Samurai’s power at all.
Additional Changes and Suggestions
Personally, I would allow a few DMG optional rules: the Action options of Disarm, Overrun, Shove Aside, Tumble are unlikely to break the balance of your martial characters. I would also allow the DMG's optional Cleaving Through Creatures rule to any class, but without the odd requisite of your first target being undamaged, and with the added stipulation that it only apply to melee attack or damage rolls that add your Strength modifier, like so:
When a melee attack that adds your Strength modifier to the attack and damage roll reduces a 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.
Bulletpoint summary of class and subclass changes
Fighter
All Fighters get Remarkable Athlete at 9th level
All Fighters get Additional Fighting Style at 13th level
Optionally Remarkable Athlete grants full proficiency bonus to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution checks (instead of half proficiency) at 17th level
Optionally Indomitable works like Legendary Resistance at 17th level (potentially in place of the Remarkable Athlete 17th level change, or together with it)
Martial Archetypes
'When you roll initiative with no uses remaining' feats are moved to 10th level if they were given at 15th level
'When you roll initiative with no uses remaining' feats now recharge resources if resources are not completely expended
Arcane Archer
Arcane Shot uses now scale with Intelligence modifier with the same minimum uses as current feat
Arcane Shot damage improves at 15th level instead of 18th level
New 18th level feature to replace improve Arcane Shot damage
Battlemaster
Size of superiority dice improve slightly earlier
New 18th level feature to replace improved superiority dice
Cavalier
Ferocious Charger now scales with number of feet moved before attack
Purple Dragon Knight (Banneret)
Inspiring Surge is moved to 3rd level and improvement is moved to 15th level
Rallying Cry is changed to scale with Fighter level to scaling with proficiency bonus + Charisma modifier
Bulwark is moved to 10th level adds Charisma modifier to ally rerolls
New 18th level feature to replace improved Inspiring Surge
Samurai
Fighting Spirit uses now scale with Wisdom modifier with the same minimum uses as current feat
To summarise what this is: it's a laundry list of changes to Fighter and some of its subclass' features, with the goal of increasing the Fighter's overall versatility at mid to high levels, and to increasing the power of some relatively 'undertuned' Martial Archetypes. But, with as little 'homebrew' as possible: no significant new (read as, not already implemented in the game) functionality, mostly just some shuffling around and number adjustments or flavor text. Furthermore, there are no overhauls to what the class or subclasses actually do. The goal is rather a rebalance of the official Fighter, that includes no combat maneuver integration into the base chassis as is popularly done in design overhauls for this class. Think of this thread as more of an attempt at a patch than a fresh edition.
Changes to the Fighter Class
Remarkable Athlete. Gets added at 9th level as a base class feature (where the Fighter obtains the first use of Indomitable). Optionally it scales at 17th level to add full proficiency bonus instead of half, like so:
Remarkable Athlete
Starting at 9th level, you can add half your proficiency bonus (rounded up) to any Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution check you make that doesn't already use your proficiency bonus. At 17th level, you add your full proficiency bonus instead.
In addition, when you make a running long jump, the distance you can cover increases by a number of feet equal to your Strength modifier.
Additional Fighting Style. Gets added at 13th level as a base class feature (where the Fighter obtains a second use of Indomitable).
Alternatively to Remarkable Athlete improving to full proficiency at 17th level, a stronger and more combat oriented increase to Fighter's power level may feel more suitable - Indomitable could improve instead. At 17th level Indomitable functions like Legendary Resistance, like so:
Indomitable
Beginning at 9th level, you can reroll a saving throw that you fail. If you do so, you must use the new roll, and you can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest. At 17th level, you automatically succeed on the failed saving throw, instead of rerolling.
You can use this feature twice between long rests starting at 13th level and three times between long rests starting at 17th level.
Explanation
Fighter fights well enough, but especially with the base class chassis it is lacking in versatility by the mid to high levels in and out of combat. Even though this is an intentional design choice for the class being the combat specialist as well as being the 'blank slate' for martial classes (in that too much flavor in ribbons would obviously clash with that purpose) it could still do with a little more. The level 7 ribbon feature (or level 3 bonus proficiencies/cantrips for some Archetypes like Arcane Archer and Cavalier) are meant to alleviate this in the social and/or exploration pillars but it's obviously a little paltry overall. Remarkable Athlete fits the general thematic space of the Fighter as the generic Champion is meant to, here its another free boost to the breadth of your versatility outside of combat, as well as a combat buff in the shape of an increase to your Initiative roll. Here it's given for free and it gets better at 17th level without breaking 5e's Bounded Accuracy rules.
A single fighting style built into the class encourages you to specialise and Fighting Initiate competes with ASIs and better feat options that also lean into specialisation. Additional Fighting Style could end up a +1 AC increase for said specialists, an extra maneuver die per short rest, or it could improve the Fighter's ability to be a weapon generalist with a non overlapping style pick. It's not a huge buff but it's not a linear power increase which Fighter doesn't need so much, but it's extra versatility for what the Fighter should do best.
Another balance fix proposed here is scaling up Indomitable into a Legendary Resistance clone by level 17. 17th level, being the transition point to the highest tier of play as 'Masters of the Realm', should see a serious boon in your advancement, comparable to 9th level spells for casters or 5th level spells for half-casters. The addition of a scaling Remarkable Athlete is intended to serve this purpose across across a neglected pillar of play. The Indomitable improvement could be added in place of or together with an improved Remarkable Athlete for the same reason but for the combat pillar instead. At higher levels, Indomitable is notorious for scaling poorly in comparison to the increasing saving throws the Fighter is subject to. This change is extremely powerful and if you don't find your Fighter's issues pertain to their durability in encounters then the Remarkable Athlete improvement might make more sense for your table.
If in the 17-20 range your Fighter feels too displaced outside of combat, but is faring well in it, consider the Remarkable Athlete 17th level improvement. If you are mostly concerned with underperformance in combat consider the Indomitable improvement instead. If there are glaring issues both in and out of combat, consider adding them together. But factor in the following Martial Archetype changes (largely combat oriented) first, the Arcane Archer, Battlemaster, Cavalier, Purple Dragon Knight and Samurai all see varying degrees of changes.
Changes to Martial Archetypes
Overall goals
Some changes are made to improve the power level of the undertuned (Arcane Archer, Banneret/Purple Dragon Knight, Battlemaster from tier 3+ onwards) to what I consider a reasonable target level (Echo Knight, Eldritch Knight, Psi Warrior, Rune Knight, Cavalier and Samurai). Cavalier and Samurai are given small adjustments for their own reasons provided in their respective design notes. Champion is not here because some of the features got divvied up into the base Fighter chassis, requiring replacement with some decidedly more 'homebrew' features and design overall. An idea for the other 3 features not integrated into the Fighter - the Improved Critical and Superior Critical could probably be awarded to a certain DPR starved class with a certain Brutal Critical (and at the same levels - though offering Survivor as well, at 17th, is likely a little more questionable). A compatible Champion with these adjustments requires a more substantive rework, which not in line with the design philosophy of these particular changes.
Arcane Archer
Arcane Shot. You have a number of uses equal to your Intelligence modifier (with a minimum of 2 uses). The damage improvements are moved from 18th to 15th level. Like so:
Arcane Shot
At 3rd level, you learn to unleash special magical effects with some of your shots. When you gain this feature, you learn two Arcane Shot options of your choice (see "Arcane Shot Options" below).
Once per turn when you fire an arrow from a shortbow or longbow as part of the Attack action, you can apply one of your Arcane Shot options to that arrow. You decide to use the option when the arrow hits, unless the option doesn’t involve an attack roll. You have a number of uses of this ability equal to your Intelligence modifier (a minimum of twice), and you regain all expended uses of it when you finish a short or long rest.
You gain an additional Arcane Shot option of your choice when you reach certain levels in this class: 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level. Each option also improves when you become a 15th level fighter.
Ever-Ready Shot. Moved to 10th level from 15th level, in line with the Samurai's equivalent. Also, recharges regardless of how many uses of Arcane Shot remain, like so:
Ever-Ready Shot
Starting at 10th level, your magical archery is available whenever battle starts. When you roll initiative, you regain one use of Arcane Shot if you have less than your maximum number of uses remaining.
At 18th level, you gain a capstone feat instead. A potential, 'vanilla' replacement (to those damage increases moved to 15th level) could look something like adding your Dexterity modifier or imposing disadvantage on the saving throw for Arcane Shot effects, like so:
Arcane Sharpshooter
At 18th level, your deft archery renders your magic more arduous to overcome. If your Arcane Shot requires a saving throw, you add your Dexterity modifier (a minimum of one) to the save DC.
or,
Empowered Shot
At 18th level, your magical archery is arduous to overcome. Your targets have disadvantage on saving throws made against your Arcane Shot.
Explanation
A minimum of twice makes more sense than a minimum of once (like for Cavalier’s 2 ability modifier scaling features). This for two reasons: first of all, the Arcane Shot resource constitutes a substantially greater chunk of Arcane Archer’s overall power than its contemporaries from the Cavalier. It’s the vast majority of what it can meaningfully do, especially at 3rd level. As a result, the fluctuation in power level between a Cavalier with one use of the expendable resource portion of Unwavering Mark (and Warding Maneuver), and with five, is much smaller than the difference between an Arcane Archer with one use versus five of its core feature. Secondly, Cavalier’s features key off of Strength and Constitution, which a Cavalier Fighter should and will invest in regardless of its placement as a. This is optional build diversity by the Cavalier and this is good design. Comparatively, with a minimum of one use for Arcane Archer, the Arcane Archer must go out of its way to pump up Intelligence practically as a mandate, and to a degree that the Cavalier is not at all obligated to. This is not optional build diversity, and this is not good design. Furthermore, even if the majority of Arcane Archers do choose to max out both Dexterity and Intelligence scores, they have the choice between first building toward Dexterity or first investing in Intelligence with both choices conferring their own distinct advantages on top of DPR.
As is, the Arcane Archer doesn't gain an actual feat at level 10, which is odd. I like Samurai getting their core feature recharge mechanic at level 10 in Tireless Spirit, I like the same for Arcane Archer here for both the purposes of design consistency, to fill this missing slot, and to improve the subclass’s power level sooner.
Additionally, with the change to Arcane Shot that opens up the potential of more uses per rest than the current two, it becomes more important and useful that the Arcane Archer gets to recharge their resource even when they still have uses leftover during initiative rolls. As it is right now, to see more use (or as it goes quite often, any use of Ever-Ready Shot at all), the Arcane Archer is encouraged to nova and expend their entire subclass resource pool as soon as possible. Recharging on a short rest, take the case of a party that sees two encounters per short rest, here the Arcane Archer is almost always going to expend both uses in the first encounter to see any functionality and optimal play, and that detracts heavily from the tactical side of resource management. With the Arcane Shot change, the potential for even more Arcane Shots per short rest keying off of Intelligence exacerbates this problem of being pushed to burn resources as much and as soon as possible; with the once per turn limit on Arcane Shot usage you may not have a chance to ever see use of Ever-Ready Shot at all with an Intelligence modifier of 5, depending on encounter duration. In summary, this is intended to be a buff to Arcane Archer’s power and to offer more flexibility with how you choose to ration your resource pool.
As for the suggested capstones that supplants the damage increase shifted to 15th level, the Arcane Archer has most likely maxed Dexterity, Intelligence, or both. The actual effects of your shot options never get stronger as you level; with either capstone suggested here, they at least become significantly more likely to take hold.
Battlemaster
Improved Combat Superiority. At 10th level, your superiority dice turn into d10s (unchanged). At 15th level, they turn into d12s (rather than 18th level).
Relentless. Moved to 10th level from 15th level. Also, recharges regardless of how many uses of superiority die remain, like so:
Relentless
Starting at 10th level, when you roll initiative, you regain one superiority die if you have less than your maximum number of dice remaining.
At 18th level, you gain a capstone feat instead. Here are two potential replacements, a Reliable Talent import for maneuvers:
Perfect Technique
At 18th level, you have honed your maneuvers to perfection. You can treat a superiority die roll of 6 or less as a 6.
or, a Stroke of Luck style feat:
Perfect Technique
At 18th level, you have honed your maneuvers to perfection. When you expend a superiority die, you can treat the superiority die roll as a 12. You must use this feature before you roll the die.
You can use this feature 3 times. You regain all expended uses when you finish a short or long rest.
Explanation
Good at low to mid levels, but scale’s notoriously poorly past that point. I considered giving 2 + proficiency bonus maneuvers to nudge it closer to the modern WOTC philosophy on how limited, non magical resources scale. However, with the power bump of a real capstone this could easily be superfluous, and on top of that, can easily wind up too powerful together with multiclassing.
Also reiterating this point, I don’t like how the initiative recharging feats like Relentless, Tireless Spirit and Ever-Ready Arrow encourage you to nova willy nilly and burn your resources early rather than expend them more judiciously. Especially when so many tables are unlikely to go even beyond 2 encounters between short rests, it just feels like bad design to demand the Battlemaster to burn up to 6 or more superiority die in the first encounter to even see use of their feature. Lastly, in comparison to its contemporaries like Ever-Ready Shot and Tireless Spirit, the value of a single maneuver is not intended to match the worth of those other resources. Regaining 1 superiority die is not commensurate to regaining 1 use of Fighting Spirit or Arcane Shot; hence, it seems reasonable to move it to 10th level in line with those feats, where Relentless is paired with an increase to the size of your dice to match their equivalent boon.
Cavalier
Ferocious Charger. Now, it scales with the number of feet you move, like so:
If you move at least 10 feet in a straight line right before attacking a creature and you hit it with the attack, that target must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier) or be knocked prone. The DC of this saving throw increases by 1 for each additional 10 feet in a straight line you move before making the attack. You can use this feature only once on each of your turns.
Explanation
I do like this subclass and it's reasonably strong across all level ranges, but it doesn't really benefit you to use mounts at all and this one particular feature is a bit too unreliable for the level range it targets. Just a small addition to remedy both of these minor quibbles.
Ferocious Charger. This feat targets a Strength saving throw which is not particularly easy to bypass at 15th level where it given. It has no limit to the number of uses per short or long rest, but prone is not that powerful either so it's within reason to make this effect a little easier to trigger. Spamming it isn't going to change the game but there may be more opportunities to use it now, and it does encourage taking advantage of the movement speed mounts provide.
Purple Dragon Knight (Banneret)
Rallying Cry. You restore hitpoints to allies equal to your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier instead of your flat Fighter level, like so:
Rallying Cry
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you learn how to inspire your allies to fight on past their injuries.
When you use your Second Wind feature, you can choose up to three creatures within 60 feet of you that are allied with you. Each one regains hit points equal to your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier (a minimum of 1).
Inspiring Surge. Moved to 3rd level from 10th level, superseding Rallying Cry as the 'core' feature of the class. The second improvement to Inspiring Surge (choosing two allies instead of one) is moved to 15th level from 18th.
Bulwark. Moved to 10th level from 15th level, and adds your Charisma modifier to the ally reroll, like so:
Bulwark
Beginning at 10th level, you can extend the benefit of your Indomitable feature to an ally. When you decide to use Indomitable to reroll an Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma saving throw and you aren't incapacitated, you can choose one ally within 60 feet of you that also failed its saving throw against the same effect. If that creature can see or hear you, it can reroll its saving throw and must use the new roll. They add your Charisma modifier to the roll (a minimum of one).
A capstone is added in place of the Inspiring Surge improvement that is moved to 15th level. One adds your Charisma modifier to Inspiring Surge attack rolls, the other stronger capstone adds your Charisma modifier to the d20 instead, like so:
Greater Inspiration
Starting at 18th level, any melee or ranged weapon attack provided by your Inspiring Surge feature adds your Charisma modifier to the attack roll.
Or, the much stronger version:
Greater Inspiration
Starting at 18th level, any melee or ranged weapon attack provided by your Inspiring Surge feature adds your Charisma modifier to the d20 used in the attack roll (for a maximum roll of 20).
Explanation
At low levels the Purple Dragon Knight is brutally weak in every way; by level 20 it’s still in a lamentable state. The purpose of these changes is not to redo the questionable design choice (of tying its features to the base chassis and the reduction of player agency in doing such), but to bring its power level more in line with better fighter subclasses at lower levels, and in line with better classes overall, at higher levels.
First off, it’s unacceptable that the Purple Dragon Knight’s main and only functionality at 3rd level is a pitiful 3 hitpoint heal. While it scales well it’s problematically weak at the levels where it’s meant to rival the firepower of other Fighter subclasses. Furthermore it's the rare Martial Archetype that does not directly increase the DPR of yourself or the party whatsoever, right until 10th level, where the majority of campaigns are already finished. Lastly, it's a single use ability that keys off of one the precious few resources the Fighter class has. It's not a fun or tactically whelming experience for your core and only subclass feature to be one that activates once a short rest, and off of one of your select few resources that require a semblance of agency.
With Inspiring Surge moved to 3rd level as the ‘core feature’ of the class, an improved Bulwark at 10th, and a proper capstone at 18th level, the power level of Rallying Cry can rest a little easier at mid to late game. It should still be roughly as strong as it is early on, scale to a much slighter extent by default, and require some ASI investment to improve further. You also have more options now at 3rd through 9th level, or at least, the feeling of getting to do more things and 'activate' your subclass more often than is currently the case.
Next, a capstone at 18th level being a direct double up on what was a 10th level feature is not a great look. It’s diminishing returns, the same way choosing more maneuver options is increasingly impotent: the second player in the party you target with Inspiring Surge is going to be at best, comparably worthwhile to your first player affected. It’s no longer the rogue of the party who gets to benefit from sneak attack on a reaction attack outside of their turn; its another martial who doesn’t get to inflict nearly as much damage with a single attack. Or worse, there’s no other available choice at all, whether the second martial player is out of position to attack, doesn’t exist, or if that reaction would be better spent doing other things. You have to juggle the usage of Action Surge, with the most opportune time for your teammate to burn their reaction, and now you have a second teammate to consider, very rarely are you in an optimal position for both teammates to make the most of a reaction weapon attack. Diminishing returns. It’s simply too underwhelming to be a capstone in itself.
There are two capstone choices offered here, one is meant to be merely satisfactory, the other is intended to be incredibly powerful. You increase the critical range of the weapon attacks granted by up to 5. It does require investment in Charisma to get to that level of madness. But, if you like subclass capstones to provide crazy firepower, here’s an example you might like to try it out.
Overall it’s also just to incentivise (it may be clear by this point that I love this phrase) build diversity once more, with Bulwark, the 7th level double proficiency, and eventually, Inspiring Surge all keying off of Charisma. By design, Charisma should be trivial and unproblematic to neglect early on. Early on where spare ASIs are sparse and hard to come by, pumping Charisma isn‚’t so critical as it doesn’t fuel anything but Rallying Cry, but as that Persuasion double proficiency, 10th level Bulwark and 18th level Greater Inspiration kick in one by one ideally those ASIs can see tempting new avenues of use that might be worthwhile.
Samurai
Fighting Spirit. Uses that scale equal to your Wisdom modifier. Here you have a number of uses equal to your Wisdom modifier (with a minimum of 3 uses) and that still recharge upon taking a long rest, like so:
Fighting Spirit
Starting at 3rd level, your intensity in battle can shield you and help you strike true. As a bonus action on your turn, you can give yourself advantage on all weapon attack rolls until the end of the current turn. When you do so, you also gain 5 temporary hit points. The number of hit points increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 10 at 10th level and 15 at 15th level.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of three times). You regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.
Tireless Spirit. Regain 1 use of Fighting Spirit regardless of whether or not you have uses remaining, like so:
Tireless Spirit
Starting at 10th level, when you roll initiative, you regain one use of Fighting Spirit if you have less than your maximum number of uses remaining.
Explanation
First off, I'm not fond of the Archetype name. If you are like me you might be interested in these generic setting names in its stead: Vassal, Warrior Poet, Liege. The features are about an intangible fighting spirit (a generic Fighter idea), a final stand before death (also a generic Fighter idea), attacking rapidly (a generic Fighter idea so generic it first appeared in UA playtesting as a feature of other proposed subclasses like Sharpshooter), and solid diplomacy skills, the first real individual flavor of the class. A Vassal and their Liege both convey this idea well. If you dislike the possible association of a background connoted by those names, Warrior Poet is a bit clunkier but conveys the theme at least as well.
Now feature wise though, I think that just like Cavalier it is well balanced power level wise. Both have some really strong high level feats, Rapid Strike in Samurai's case. Here I want to add just a small change that is not going to automatically increase the firepower of the class without some investment, but leaves the option.
As with the others I like this resource scaling with a secondary modifier because it adds genuine build diversity with regard to ability scores.This isn‚’t intended to be a linear increase in power but to open up the availabillity of a sidegrade. Having a Fighter subclass that specialises in Wisdom and has encouraged synergy with Wisdom subclasses sounds like a fun idea to me. While high Wisdom is more than likely still suboptimal compared to other ways to optimize the Samurai, at least the option is there and rewards you for it with DPR, durability, and improved social pillar interaction all at once together with the Wisdom saving throw proficiency and bonus to Persuasion checks the level 7 feat provides. But nonetheless, a higher minimum of 3 rather than the typical 1 is called for, as to keep it exactly that - an option.
Tireless Spirit also sees the same change as Ever-Ready Shot and Relentless. This one is a little stronger than those other two since Fighting Spirit recharges on a long rest. Over the course of a typical adventuring day (for the average table, not the DMG's 6-8 suggestion), you should usually see either no additional uses of Fighting Spirit than is currently supplied, or one more use of Fighting Spirit. At a push you might end up with two more in per day than is currently the case. The only situation you would see three more uses of Fighting Spirit than currently is in the very situational case that you would currently choose to only burn one use of Fighting Spirit within the first three encounters of a Long Rest. This is because once you acquire Tireless Spirit as is, burning two uses and conserving a third is pointless: you would retain the same number of uses per future encounter if you used the third also. Hence, I would not consider this an overtuned increase to Samurai’s power at all.
Additional Changes and Suggestions
Personally, I would allow a few DMG optional rules: the Action options of Disarm, Overrun, Shove Aside, Tumble are unlikely to break the balance of your martial characters. I would also allow the DMG's optional Cleaving Through Creatures rule to any class, but without the odd requisite of your first target being undamaged, and with the added stipulation that it only apply to melee attack or damage rolls that add your Strength modifier, like so:
When a melee attack that adds your Strength modifier to the attack and damage roll reduces a 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.
Bulletpoint summary of class and subclass changes
Fighter
All Fighters get Remarkable Athlete at 9th level
All Fighters get Additional Fighting Style at 13th level
Optionally Remarkable Athlete grants full proficiency bonus to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution checks (instead of half proficiency) at 17th level
Optionally Indomitable works like Legendary Resistance at 17th level (potentially in place of the Remarkable Athlete 17th level change, or together with it)
Martial Archetypes
'When you roll initiative with no uses remaining' feats are moved to 10th level if they were given at 15th level
'When you roll initiative with no uses remaining' feats now recharge resources if resources are not completely expended
Arcane Archer
Arcane Shot uses now scale with Intelligence modifier with the same minimum uses as current feat
Arcane Shot damage improves at 15th level instead of 18th level
New 18th level feature to replace improve Arcane Shot damage
Battlemaster
Size of superiority dice improve slightly earlier
New 18th level feature to replace improved superiority dice
Cavalier
Ferocious Charger now scales with number of feet moved before attack
Purple Dragon Knight (Banneret)
Inspiring Surge is moved to 3rd level and improvement is moved to 15th level
Rallying Cry is changed to scale with Fighter level to scaling with proficiency bonus + Charisma modifier
Bulwark is moved to 10th level adds Charisma modifier to ally rerolls
New 18th level feature to replace improved Inspiring Surge
Samurai
Fighting Spirit uses now scale with Wisdom modifier with the same minimum uses as current feat