(Class) The Frontline Tactican

[TruthHidesNothing]

Every person that has played D&D for a few years understands the fact that non-spell casting characters cannot possibly defeat spell casters at higher levels.

Spellcasters should be extremely powerful at higher levels, but so should fighters rogues and barbarians.
Many of the things that have made the Fighter a good choice in the previous editions has been cut and poorly replaced by bonus feats, while wizards only grew stronger and clerics and druids can suddenly melee better then a fighter as well as having a good caster progression.

Warriors are generaly viewed as foolish brutes by most people, and that's simply not true, while some may be foolish brutes and thugs ,many others are disciplined warriors that train both mind and body.

Credit goes to Lord Iames the Light for revising the Force of Will ability and pointing out many grammar and spelling mistakes, to Ghost Warlock for coming up with the name "Cunning Offence" and to Pegasos989 for generaly helping me to balance the class


Anyway, Feedback is welcome

The Frontline Tactician


Conflict defines existence, Warriors live by these words, but none knows how much truth they hold better then he who leads all others. Unlike standard tacticians and strategists, the Frontline Tactician is no coward and fights along his troops, leading by example. These brilliant masterminds fight using their intellect, seeking their opponent's weak spots and exploiting them at the least expected time.

IN GAME MECHANICS
Frontline Tacticians benefit from a high Strength score, as it increases the damage they deal, they also benefit from a high Constitution score, as it helps them survive in combat; likewise, Dexterity serves the same role when used by lightly armored Tacticians. Intelligence is the most important score for the Frontline Tactician, as most of his abilities depend on it

Hit Die: D8

The Frontline Tactician's class skills are: Climb (STR) Profession (WIS) Jump (STR) Ride (DEX) Swim (STR) Knowledge: History, Religion, Nobility, Folklore (INT) Bluff (CHA) Diplomacy (CHA) Sense Motive (WIS) And Heal (WIS)

Skill points: 2+INT modifier

Saving Throws
Good: All
Poor: none

BAB: Full

Level: Ability
1: Warrior's Proficiencies, Tactican's Guile
2: Evasion
3: -
4: Analyze 1
5: Cunning Offense X2
6: -
7: Improved Feint
8: Analyze 2
9: -
10: Force of will
11: Cunning Offense X3
12: Analyze 3
13: Tactican's Brilliance
14: Mettle
15: Cunning Offense X4
16: Analyze 4
17: Supreme Feint
18: -
19: Cunning Offense X5
20: Analyze 5


Warrior's Proficiencies
A Frontline Tacticians is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all light, medium, and heavy armor, and with Shields. Including Tower Shields

Tactican's Guile

A Frontline Tactician adds his Intelligence modifier to damage from attacks, The Tactician may choose not to receive the Intelligence bonus to damage for this round, if he does, he may use his Intelligence modifier instead of his Strength modifier for the purpose of attack rolls for this round.

On an bull rush, disarm, feint, sunder, trip, or overrun attempt, a Frontline Tactician adds his Intelligence modifier to the check.

If the Tactician readies a weapon against a charging foe, the fighter adds twice his Intelligence modifier to the readied weapon's damage.

The maximum bonus from this ability cannot exceed the Tactician's class level, Using the Cunning Offense class feature by-passes this limit.

Evasion
At level 2, the Tactician gains the evasion ability.

Analyze
Beginning at level 4, A Frontline Tactician may attempt to analyze an humanoid opponent as a full round action, Analyzing is handled like a "skill check" against the DC of

the Creature's HD + The creature's Intelligence Modifier+10

If they are aware of the fact that the Frontline Tactician is attempting to Analyze them, they may add their bluff modifier to the DC

The "skill check" works like this:

Frontline Tactician's class levels + The Tactician's Intelligence Modifier+ Sense motive+1D20

Foes that are immune to critical hits and/or have an unclear anatomy have their DC raised by half their HD+2, Creatures such as golems or other artificial creations simply double their base DC instead.


If the Tactician succeeds in analyzing his opponent the following effects take place:

*If the victim has Damage Reduction, The Tactician's Intelligence modifier is subtracted from it, The Tactician may inform the rest of his party of the opponent's weakness as a swift action (given the length and level of detail it requires) but if the Tactician does so and the foe can understand the Tactician's message to the rest of his group, the foe becomes aware of the fact that the enemy has found out of its weak spots and will take farther measures to protect them, Only half of the Fighter's Intelligence Modifier (rounded down) is subtracted in such a case.

* Beginning at Level 8, If an opponent that is immune to criticals is analyzed, The Tactician and any other creature that the Tactician shares this knowledge with treat the creature as if it is not immune to critical hits, Any fortification bonus the opponent had is now gone. A Frontline Tactician may also Analyze non-humanoids from now on

*Beggining at level 12, the Frontline Tactician may attempt to analyze any number of foes, To succed the Frontline Tactican must make an Analtze attempt against the combined DC of all foes he is attempting to Analyze

* Begining at level 16, Whenever the Tactician analyzes a creature, The Tactician and anyone that the fighter shares this knowledge with reduces his critical threat range by one point when fighting that specific creature

*At level 20, The Tactician may "spend" two of his daily Force of Will uses to attempt to analyze an opponent as a swift action, Additionally, The Tactician may make a Feint Check against a foe that he has analyzed as a free action.

* For every 6 Frontline Tactician levels, Whenever a Tactician analyzes a foe, He and all allies that he shares this knowledge with gain a +1 Insight Bonus to AB and Damage against the analyzed foe(s), at level 20 this bonus is increased to +4, if the opponent finds out about the fact that his opponents have found out its weak spots it will put more effort into protecting them. The bonus is then halved, rounded up.

Cunning Offence
As sneak attack, but instead of adding bonus damage dice, the Tactician multiplies his Intelligence bonus (be it for damage or attack roll purposes) for this attack by the multiplier in the ability's name.

Improved Feint
At seventh level the Tactician gains Improved Feint as a bonus feat, even if he does not qualify for it.

Force of Will
While to many the battlefield is a chaotic mess, to a Tactician it is a mathematical equation. Starting at 10th level, a number of times per day equal to his Tactician class levels, when the Tactician has to attempt a saving throw, he can choose to treat it as if his unmodified d20 roll resulted in a number equal to his Frontline Tactican class levels. Modifiers are then applied to the roll normally.

Tactican's Brilliance
A Tactician may add up to twice his Intelligence modifier to any bull rush, disarm, trip, feint, overrun, or sunder attempt that he makes.

The cap on Warrior's Cunning is removed.

Mettle
At level 14 the Tactician gains the Mettle ability

Supreme Feint
At level 17, The Tactician takes no penalties on feint attempts against non-humanoid enemies or creatures with animal-like intelligence, and may attempt to feint creatures with no Intelligence score with a -20 penalty

[Lord Iames Osari]

You obviously meant "martial weapons" in the weapon proficiencies description, as "material weapon" describes... well, pretty much everything. Unless, of course, you INTENDED you variant fighter to be able to kick butt and take names with a stapler...

Warrior's Brilliance and part of Warrior's Cunning are the same.

Instead of having Force of Will and Force of Will, Transcendant, have one ability called Force of Will.

"Force of Will (Ex): Starting at 10th level, a number of times per day equal to his fighter class levels, when the fighter has to attempt a saving throw, he can choose to treat it as if his unmodified d20 roll resulted in a number equal to his fighter class levels. Modifiers are then applied to the roll normally."

The reasaon for my elimination of the terms "Taking 10" and "taking 20" is that both reflect the ability of a charcter to take extra time to do something right. taking 20 in particular requires the investment of 2 full minutes. That's 20 rounds, and a wee bit impractical when it comes to making saving throws against, say, a save-or-die effect.

[Matthew]

Interesting, but this should be alternative Base Class, rather than a Revised Fighter. The strength of the Fighter lies in his versatility [i.e. you are free to build him however you choose, rather than being straight jacketed into a fixed progression]; I advise renaming this Base Class.

[TruthHidesNothing]

Proficiencies: Agh, didn't notice that, thanks.

Warrior's Brilliance: Notice it says "up to twice your intelligence modifier" :)

Force of Will: Your implementation is much cleaner then my own, and also works better, I'll add it in, thanks.

Matthew: Well, it did get a bit too far from the source . . . how do you think it should be named?


Also, feel free to point out any spelling or grammar mistakes you find, English is my third language and its late at night here.

[Umbral_Arcanist]

Hmm, i like it, it captures the feel of the fighter well without relying on bonus feats.....

two things:

precise strike has the same requirements for use as SA, right? flanked or flat-footedor otherwise DEX-denied opponent? That may be a little good, with the fighter and rogue working together to flank.....

and for Warrior's endurance, i'd change it to allow a re-roll whenever for a fort save or CON check, not just a failed one, makes it a little less powerful, if he knows he failed a fort save the fighter is gonna take the re-roll, there is no penalty for "failing a check by more" 90% of the time..... ( in the case of CON checks and FORT saves)

[Lord Iames Osari]

Warrior's Brilliance: Missed the word "twice". Mea culpa.

[Fax Celestis]

precise strike has the same requirements for use as SA, right? flanked or flat-footedor otherwise DEX-denied opponent? That may be a little good, with the fighter and rogue working together to flank.....

Precise Strike is not activated by flanking.

[Umbral_Arcanist]

Precise Strike is not activated by flanking.

I mean the precise strike in the chart, which says "as Sneak Attack" not the precise strike ability of the duelist (?)

[Lord Iames Osari]

Every person that has played D&D for a few years understands the fact that non-spell casting characters cannot possibly defeat spell casters at higher levels.

Spellcasters should be extremely powerful at higher levels, but so should fighters rogues and barbarians.
Many of the things that have made the Fighter a good choice in the previous editions has been cut and poorly replaced by bonus feats, while wizards only grew stronger and clerics and druids can suddenly melee better then a fighter as well as having a good caster progression.

The fighter is also viewed as a foolish brute by many, and this is simply not true; Warriors and Barbarians are thugs and brutes, a Fighter is a disciplined warrior that trains both mind and body.

Finally, there is absolutely no reason to be a pure fighter, and this bothers me the most. This is an attempt to "fix" fighters, and also add some abilities that are more flavorful then bonus feats.

Credit goes to Lord Iames the Light for revising the Force of Will ability

Anyway, Feedback is welcome

The Fighter

Conflict defines existence, and no-one knows that better then the fighter. These warriors train both mind and body to do just that. Fighters should not be confused with thugs or brutes, these are lesser warriors that fight with wild, undefined, techniques, like untamed beasts that fight instinctively. Unlike them, Fighters are disciplined warriors, to them, fighting is both an art and a science. A fighter's every movement is as calculated as a gesture in a wizard's spell and often just as potent.

[size=4]IN GAME MECHANICS[/size]
Fighters benefit from a high Strength score, as it increases the damage they deal, they also benefit from a high Constitution score, as it helps them survive in combat; likewise, Dexterity serves the same role when used by lightly armored fighters. Many of the Fighter's special abilities are augmented by an high Intelligence score.

Hit Die: D10

The fighter's class skills are: Climb (STR) Profession (WIS) Jump (STR) Ride (DEX) Swim (STR) Knowledge: History, Religion, Nobility, Folklore (INT)
Bluff (CHA) And Diplomacy (CHA) Heal (WIS)

Skill points: 2+INT modifier

Saving Throws
Good: All
Poor: none

BAB: Full

Level: Ability
1:Fighter's Proficiencies, Warrior's Cunning
2: Warrior's Endurance
3: -
4: Warrior's Spirit +1
5: Precise Strike X2
6: -
7: Improved Feint
8: Warrior's Spirit +2
9: -
10: Force of will
11: Precise Strike X3
12: Warrior's Spirit +3
13: Warrior's Brilliance
14: Evasion
15: Precise Strike X4
16: Warrior's Spirit +4
17: Supreme Feint
18: -
19: Precise Strike X5
20: Force of Will, Transcendent. Warrior's Spirit +5


Fighter's Proficiencies
A fighter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all light, medium, and heavy armor, and with Shields. {LI-Including tower shields? You might want to specify that, since they do so in the PHB.}

Warrior's Cunning
[list][*]A fighter adds his Intelligence modifier to damage from attacks, a fighter may choose not to receive the Intelligence bonus to damage for this round, if he does, he may use his Intelligence modifier instead of his Strength modifier for the purpose of attack rolls for this round.[*]On an bull rush, disarm, feint, sunder, trip, or overrun attempt, a fighter adds his Intelligence modifier to the check.[*]If a fighter readies a weapon against a charging character, the fighter adds twice his Intelligence modifier to the readied weapon's damage.

Warrior's Endurance
Whenever a fighter fails a Fortitude save or Constitution check, the fighter may reroll it. The fighter must keep the later result, even if its worse then the previous one

Warrior's Spirit
This ability grants a bonus to all saves: +1 at level 4, +2 at level 8, +3 at level 12, +4 at level 16, and finally, +5 at level 20.

Precise Strike
As sneak attack, but instead of adding bonus damage dice, the Fighter multiplies his Intelligence bonus (be it for damage or attack roll purposes) for this attack by the multiplier in the ability's name.

Improved Feint
At seventh level the fighter gains Improved Feint as a bonus feat, even if he does not qualify for it.

Force of Will
While to many the battlefield is a chaotic mess, to a fighter it is a mathematical equation. Starting at 10th level, a number of times per day equal to his fighter class levels, when the fighter has to attempt a saving throw, he can choose to treat it as if his unmodified d20 roll resulted in a number equal to his fighter class levels. Modifiers are then applied to the roll normally.

Warrior's Brilliance
A fighter may add up to twice his Intelligence modifier to any bull rush, disarm, trip, feint, overrun, or sunder attempt that he makes.

Evasion
At level 14, the fighter gains the evasion ability.

Supreme Feint
At level 17, a fighter takes no penalties on feint attempts against non-humanoid enemies or creatures with animal-like intelligence, and may attempt to feint creatures with no Intelligence score with a -20 penalty.

Since you said it was okay to correct spelling and grammar, I went through and corrected everything I could find (corrections are in bold). If it looks like a lot and you don't understand why some corrections were made, don't feel bad. English is a confusing and inconsistent language, and I've seen mistakes much worse than yours from native speakers. Just the fact that you speak three languages makes you two up on me, because Latin doesn't really count, does it?

[TruthHidesNothing]

Lord Iames: Thanks, I'll fix it right away.
Also, I usually spell far better but as I have already mentioned its late at night here . . .

Umbral Arcanist: Glad you like it. I believe you are correct on the Warrior's Endurance part, it'll make the ability more interesting and interactive, I'll change it and add you to the credits.

A Fighter and a Rogue teaming up is the same as two rogues doing the same, so I do believe Precise Strike is balanced.

Speaking of precise strike, Ugh, I forgot that name is already taken, does anyone has a suggestion for an alternative name?

[ghost_warlock]

Speaking of precise strike, Ugh, I forgot that name is already taken, does anyone has a suggestion for an alternative name?

How about "Cunning Offense."

[Lord Iames Osari]

How about "Cunning Offense."

Seconded.

[TruthHidesNothing]

Thats an awesome name, Name changed and credit given.

Also, I've fixed the awkward title mistake . . .

[Umbral_Arcanist]

The fighter's profiicenies ability gave me an idea, maybe every 5 levels or so the fighter gains a free proficiency..... to simulate his constant training in different fighting techniques and styles, and therfore weapons...

[TruthHidesNothing]

Well, that is rather logical, but wouldn't it overpower the class just a tad?

[Lord Iames Osari]

The fighter's profiicenies ability gave me an idea, maybe every 5 levels or so the fighter gains a free proficiency..... to simulate his constant training in different fighting techniques and styles, and therfore weapons...

It's like 2nd edition!

[Pegasos989]

Well... I agree that this should be renamed as something non-fighterish as this is not something to use instead of fighter (Fighter's strenght is his flexibility and he can be built any way possible. That is what makes it interesting class...). Also, with PHB2 fighter at high levels became viable so I really don't think that we need something totally diffrent to replace it.


If I try to not think of this as a fighter, I kinda like where it is going. A few suggestions.

First of all we need to make this some other as "The best one level dip class for every TWFer, grappler, bullrusher, disarmer, tripper, etc..." cause that is what it effectively is. A dip class.
Cap warrior's cunning bonus to be up to class level (so if dipping 1 level, you only get 1 point bonus to those stuff instead of full int bonus. Rogues often have high int and especially with headband, they would not only get TWF bonus of... a lot... to damage of every attack but I don't dare to think the abusing of ranged trip, etc...).

The first level is still awfully good (3 good saves, d10, +1 bonus to damage, bullrush, trip, etc., BAB...) but not so game breaking.

Warrior's endurance is nice...

Warrior's spirit? So at 20th level you effectively have +16 base save to ALL of the saves? AND rerolling fortitude saves? I dunno about this... I might remove the whole thing. I know warriors should train their mind too but I dislike the idea of fighter having stronger mind than wizard, monk, etc...

Cunning offense... A nice trick. Okay.

Improved feint? Well... I am unsure.

Warrior's brilliance? Hmm... I guess it is okay as it is hard to abuse after having went that high in a class.

Evasion? Always thought fighters should have it.



So: Nice class if you cap the cunning to fighter levels. I think I will try to build 20th level character with this later this evening.

[TruthHidesNothing]

Thanks for the feedback

I cannot believe I haven't seen the possible abuse of a single level (especially since I am of the "all base classes should be Worth to take 20 levels in, and each level in another class should be an equal trade off" school of thought)

I'll cap it right away, and uncap it at level 13.
(You're added to the credit list, of course)

I am beginning to think you are correct about Warrior's Spirit, after all, Monks and Paladins should be the game's save monkeys, I'll replace Warrior's Spirit with something slightly less potent and more flavorful for an intelligent warrior.

About Cunning Offense: its more then just a nice trick, assuming an Intelligence score of 30 if you go completely INT based for some reason or another, thats a +10 modifier, with Cunning Offense 5 thats either +50 damage or +50 to your AB for that round, assuming you are using a two handed weapon, and thus can Power Attack in a rate of 1:2, you can subtract the whole amount and deal +100 damage for that one attack, or +100 for every attack in the round if you make a full attack on a flat footed enemy.

Then again, all your other stats will likely suck . . .


Finally, I now see this class concept has strayed a bit too far from a "revised fighter". Do you how any suggestions for a new name?

[Pegasos989]

So. I built one. I do not think this is overpowered when opponent has decent FF ac (and as most at high level have, like dragons, outsiders, etc.) but still strong.

The cunning offence is... interesting. as I used 32 PB (str and int 16, con 14 (16 as I made dwarf), dex 14, cha and wis 8.) and raised only int, got tome for it and headband, my int bonus was +10. That means +50 damage for each attack at 20th level.

I made THW fighter which was strong but not overpowered. Anyone wants to try TWF fighter? The amount of feats it needs might benefit from 1 level dip to "normal" fighter as it is not like this class needed the +1 to saves from last level.

EDIT: Oh, and what I thought about it... It seems like class that really is worth taking 20 levels (or atleast 19) but not gamebreaking. I like it. About name... I don't have ideas.

EDIT 2: Oh, and as you can't power attack for more than your BAB (being 20) and would thus get up to 40 damage, options are:
+30 to hit, +40 to damage
OR
+50 to damage

EDIT 3: DAMNIT! The more I look at this class, the more I want to playtest it. First class from forums ever that I actually would like to playtest...


The main problem I am worried about is TWFer. Weapon of speed so 8 attacks. Oversized two weapon fighting so you can PA for 1:1 ratio on both weapons.
Every attack will hit (+30 to hit from this, +20 BAB, +8 STR, +5 weap... well, you will hit) and deal 1d10+20+8(lets say that is our STR bonus)+5(lets say +5 weapon) so you will deal 8d10+160+64+40 (average 308 ) on full attack against enemies with no miss chance. You would nearly always kill balor in one round of full attack.

Sure, this requires spending 3 TWF feats, 1 OSTWF, 1 PA and if dwarf (you need bonus to physical as you need all of them high) you only have 2 left. You could put them to WF for some weapon but why, as you hit every time anyways, etc... Possibly vexing flanker.


EDIT 4: To clarify more... I don't think it is overpowered compared to a wizard. It takes a charge and 2 full attacks to kill a great wyrm red dragon and
a) Why does great wyrm red dragon let you full attack 3 times
b) Wizard with 3 rounds can also do a lot of stuff...

The thing I am worried about is that it is not "Roll to hit" but more like "Roll to see if you get natural 1 to miss..." which takes away some of the fun. Naturally, this is only problem with this +10 int mod but still...

[TruthHidesNothing]

Once again, thanks for the feedback, feel free to send me farther results, or better yet, post them in this topic :)

Also, I've traded Warrior's Spirit with Analyze, tell me what you think.

Also, Try to think up a new name for our "fighter" if you can, given the fact I am absolutely terrible at coming up with names for classes/abilities.

As always, I'm open to feedback.

[Pegasos989]

Analyze is nice. I have been subconsiously waiting for ability that gets info from opponent and possibly uses it to gain advantage and this is certainly a class for which it fits. Is is a bit confusing (if your modifiers of certain stuff are higher than opponent's other modifiers you remove your int bonus from his DR unless you want to infrorm your team about it in which case you remove half of the int bon...) but I think that a player should learn to remember those soon enough.

A name a name a name... When people ask my help in naming classes I normally answer "When people see the witty old man telling stories of heroic deeds, they can think of 'Well, that is a bard!'. What would you think that people would call a member of that class?" but it is harder with these nonspellcaster, intelligent fighters, who are kinda like... combat experts.... Hmmm.... 8)

[Lord Iames Osari]

On Analyze - I would include a base of 10 in the DC of the target creature, and include a d20 roll for the fighter. Just because you want to keep some amount of luck/circumstance involved.

Name - The Tactician

[TruthHidesNothing]

I cannot believe I haven't thought of that name!
For the god knows what time, thanks you.

About adding an element of Luck: Thats a good idea, it makes the game more interactive and creates some interesting scenarios like the Tactician attempting to desperately analyze a Balor while the rest of the party attempts to hold the Balor off until they will actually be able to hurt him.

Say, Is it against the rules for me to make a new topic for the revised "Frontline Tactician"?

[Lord Iames Osari]

Use the modify button on the OP, and in the subject line, type in "Frontline Tactician [Class]". This thread will then be titled, "Frontline Tactician".

[Pegasos989]

I actually thought of some similar name but then was "I think there is already a tactical soldier or something PrC...", didn't get to just tactician though. :P

[TruthHidesNothing]

Use the modify button on the OP, and in the subject line, type in "Frontline Tactician [Class]". This thread will then be titled, "Frontline Tactician".

I am well aware of my ability to do so, I am not a newbie you know. I have just figured all the posts referring to the Fighter will confuse new people.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Sorry. It's jut that I didn't know I could do that until not too long ago, so...

Eh, do whatever you think is best.

[TruthHidesNothing]

I'm sorry if that sounded a bit offensive, anyway, I've revised the class once again.

The Analyze ability now grants more bonuses at lower levels to capture the "Tactician" flavor.

The class's Hit Die is now D8.

Warrior's Endurance has been replaced by Evasion, And Evasion has been replaced by Mettle.

Warrior's Cunning and Warrior's Brilliance were renamed Tactician's Guile and Tactician's Brilliance, respectively.

[kanachi]

I like this class alot, its certainly an interesting way of handeling a fighter and is not SO different that it trys to throw the rule books out the window - subtle but effective.

Good work

[TruthHidesNothing]

Thank you, I'm glad you like it. if you like the class enough to actualy play it in a game, feel free to post the results here.

As always, I'm open to suggestions