Please delete

[naomifullbloom]

Requested deletion, this needed work

[DiBastet]

I like the duelist concept, I think it works great as a subclass.

Now, about your class, I really see no reason why it's a base class. I came here expecting that the reasoning was that there are lots of dueling styles that a single fighter subclass wouldn't be able to support; einhander, the typical "pirate" setup with main gauche, hell, I'm expert but also kendo and some saracen style? In this edition I feel that the idea is to go simple and rp nuances with as few rules as possible; you want a katana? that's a longsword for you. Want a scarred berserker? there's the totem barbarian and his "spells". But I could buy into that reasoning.

Instead we have a generic subclass for generic dueling that could be in the fighter, a dragon-sorcerer-duelist and the shadow-wielding-duelist? Really? We already have a shadowy rogue subclass, and the draconic-spellcaster-finesse-wielding guy doesn't seem like a classic fantasy trope for me.

But let's put that aside and consider the mechanics. Stunts. I guess I know where you wanted to go with them; you try a stunt with "-5" (disadvantage) and the subclass allow you to try that some times per day without the -5. But the stances are just weird. There's disadvantages to saves for meager bonuses everywhere, the beneficial effects are numerical things instead of options, msot of them are pretty useless, some other give pluses in a system that tries its best to avoid them, and there's even 3/4 damage and taking twice other kind. Really? Couldn't you say "receives Resistance against magical damage but Vulnerability agains phisical damage"?

Now I won't just bash, stunts ARE a good concept, and I used them a lot on Iron Heroes, but this system doesn't do them justice. If you're going to make it central to the class then you have to improve it a lot.

I guess your class needs a lot of polishing, man.

[SiuiS]

The playtests had a swashbuckler concept, actually, in the rogue; a duelist rogue would gain advantage on all attacks against an isolated opponent, which encouraged you to seek out enemies that your friends weren't fighting. They could trade that advantage for sneak attack (as sneak attack have disadvantage, canceling out). It was a fairly direct concept and one that worked admirably. I don't know why they scrapped it.

Along those lines, I think a subclass (or set of subclasses) for fighter, rogue, bard and maybe also wizard would be a better direction? You could still add in the stunts idea, that way, as a additional mechanic. Just give the fighter version martial dice again and it could work.

[DiBastet]

The playtests had a swashbuckler concept

That's a very interesting set of rules... Could you expand on it just a little more? I think I can build something with some guidelines.