I underestimated the fighter. Spending your action to absorb as much damage as you can deal makes sense. I'm just thinking about how tank builds typically need to sacrifice their health to really do their job, but if you're going to dedicate yourself to absorbing blows, you should be able to do it well.
With the Charge, it nullifies the downside to the Lunge feature. You'd be moving up to 90 feet a round, while still retaining your action. At 20th level, monks can move 60ft without losing their action. A fighter in full plate would be moving about faster than someone who's unarmored and trained to move quickly.
Idk.
My point was that it could be used once in combat, while outside of combat it could be used to intercept damage from traps and such, but again, spending an action to absorb the damage you would normally deal does sound balanced.
That makes sense, and really streamlines it. I just like game mechanics to follow the flavoring, that's why non-magical defense would be some form of check in my opinion, but this does make a lot of sense. It's an easy answer, and works well. In the end, it's just nickpicking really.
Guardian just raised a red flag for me. Your fighter concept is really cool. The Herald opens some interesting oppurtunities for roleplay, and Medic has been something I've wanted in fighter for a while. I would gladly play your fighter over the current version.