The Squire
Villager
Hello all. So, I was reading through the thread regarding what a high-level or Advanced 5e Fighter might look like, and I decided to try and put an idea down on paper.
This version of the Fighter incorporates some of the ideas found in that thread, and also rolls the Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger, and Rogue classes into the class as subclasses of this revised Fighter. It also retains the Eldritch Knight subclass, but reworks the mechanics.
Overall, this version of the fighter I've put together is tough, has strong saves without making all saves proficient, and is able to utilize armor and shields unlike any other class. This fighter starts out resistant to fear, and eventually becomes immune to it.
If a class like Paladin or Ranger had spells, those are now gone. The Ranger, as a subclass, has been re-imagined as a fighter that has experience dealing with a particular invading foe (a Dragon, a horde of Orcs, etc), and learning their vulnerabilities while waging a war of attrition against said foe). The Paladin functions more as a traditional, mundane fighter that has a strong but not overt connection to some holy power. The Paladin's strength and resilience always seems as though it comes from an inner resolve or a strong personal adherence to faith rather than an on-the-nose divine link, even though that divine link grows more obvious as the Paladin rises in power (Divine Reserves, Shared Blessing features).
Most of the class features used to make these subclasses remain the same as they were in their base classes, although some have been tweaked and a few are new.
Also, I take no credit for some of the ideas used to make this revised class (such as the use of shields to block damage, and re-purposing the Brute's Durable feature as the Fighter's new Indomitable feature). They were just some of the good ideas I saw in the thread and felt they worked to make a revised Fighter better.
A couple of key points:
1. I chose to make armor inherently better for the fighter because why shouldn't the fighter know how to maximize the effectiveness of his or her armor? Giving the fighter resistance to non-magical physical damage while wearing armor of any kind seemed like a good way to toughen up the fighter against martial threats without invalidating a spellcaster's traditional elemental damage.
2. Wearing no armor grants the fighter advantage on Dexterity saving throws and Dexterity-related skills, along with a speed boost. My reasoning behind this was to make nimble, Dex-based fighters feel just as strong as armored fighters. Whereas an armored fighter can shrug off traditional damage, a fit and quick fighter should be good at avoiding big splash damage. In addition, not being encumbered by armor, the unarmored fighter should display some aptitude toward quick movements (hence the advantage on Dex-based skills) and stronger mobility (improved speed).
It also works well for the Barbarian subclass, which retained the original Barbarian's Unarmored Defense feature. Thus you can have a juggernaut of a Barbarian decked out in full plate and slugging it out in with traditional damage resistance, or an extremely athletic Barbarian that's quick on their feet while retaining some measure of durability.
3. The damage-negating shield seemed like a good resource-dependent augment to the Fighter, as well as just a cool, cinematic element to add overall. The mechanic allows this revised Fighter to ignore an attack's damage up to twice per shield (AC bonus of +2), or between 3-5 times per short rest (assuming a magical shield between +1 to +3 that regenerates on short rests). This seemed like a good way to further increase the revised Fighter's durability, while simultaneously offering limited protection from directed elemental attacks from spellcasters.
This was a really good idea in the aforementioned thread, and I really felt it needed to be a part of any revised Fighter.
4. Advantage against, and then immunity to the frightened condition, seemed like something a hardened fighter would develop over time. Combat is a stressful, terrifying ordeal, so it really seems to make sense that Fighters would eventually become accustomed/numb to that fear, or conditioned to mitigate it. As the Fighter gains experience and marches towards ever greater threats, becoming more and more an epic hero, fear simply shouldn't plague them any longer.
Overall, I feel like this version of the 5e Fighter condenses a lot of the martial classes together and offers a more complete package to the martial experience. It doesn't try to replicate spellcasters on a 1:1 ratio, and honestly in the absence of any other changes, spellcasters still have the edge even against this revised Fighter. But I feel like this Fighter is better at doing what it's supposed to do (fighting monsters, absorbing damage, shrugging off potential conditions, etc), all while offering some subclasses that distinguish one fighter from another (the bloodthirsty Marauder, the pious Knight, the resourceful Skirmisher, the low-blow Opportunist, and the arcane Spellsword).
I by no means feel this is a perfect revision of the Fighter and welcome any critical thoughts. If something feels OP, say it. If something feels too weak, again, say it. Got an alternative idea? Say it.
This was merely an exercise to get the juices flowing and see what can be done to improve the Fighter and martial combat overall. ^.^
Also, please disregard the "concierge" reference just under the Class Features section...editing mistake lol
This version of the Fighter incorporates some of the ideas found in that thread, and also rolls the Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger, and Rogue classes into the class as subclasses of this revised Fighter. It also retains the Eldritch Knight subclass, but reworks the mechanics.
Overall, this version of the fighter I've put together is tough, has strong saves without making all saves proficient, and is able to utilize armor and shields unlike any other class. This fighter starts out resistant to fear, and eventually becomes immune to it.
If a class like Paladin or Ranger had spells, those are now gone. The Ranger, as a subclass, has been re-imagined as a fighter that has experience dealing with a particular invading foe (a Dragon, a horde of Orcs, etc), and learning their vulnerabilities while waging a war of attrition against said foe). The Paladin functions more as a traditional, mundane fighter that has a strong but not overt connection to some holy power. The Paladin's strength and resilience always seems as though it comes from an inner resolve or a strong personal adherence to faith rather than an on-the-nose divine link, even though that divine link grows more obvious as the Paladin rises in power (Divine Reserves, Shared Blessing features).
Most of the class features used to make these subclasses remain the same as they were in their base classes, although some have been tweaked and a few are new.
Also, I take no credit for some of the ideas used to make this revised class (such as the use of shields to block damage, and re-purposing the Brute's Durable feature as the Fighter's new Indomitable feature). They were just some of the good ideas I saw in the thread and felt they worked to make a revised Fighter better.
A couple of key points:
1. I chose to make armor inherently better for the fighter because why shouldn't the fighter know how to maximize the effectiveness of his or her armor? Giving the fighter resistance to non-magical physical damage while wearing armor of any kind seemed like a good way to toughen up the fighter against martial threats without invalidating a spellcaster's traditional elemental damage.
2. Wearing no armor grants the fighter advantage on Dexterity saving throws and Dexterity-related skills, along with a speed boost. My reasoning behind this was to make nimble, Dex-based fighters feel just as strong as armored fighters. Whereas an armored fighter can shrug off traditional damage, a fit and quick fighter should be good at avoiding big splash damage. In addition, not being encumbered by armor, the unarmored fighter should display some aptitude toward quick movements (hence the advantage on Dex-based skills) and stronger mobility (improved speed).
It also works well for the Barbarian subclass, which retained the original Barbarian's Unarmored Defense feature. Thus you can have a juggernaut of a Barbarian decked out in full plate and slugging it out in with traditional damage resistance, or an extremely athletic Barbarian that's quick on their feet while retaining some measure of durability.
3. The damage-negating shield seemed like a good resource-dependent augment to the Fighter, as well as just a cool, cinematic element to add overall. The mechanic allows this revised Fighter to ignore an attack's damage up to twice per shield (AC bonus of +2), or between 3-5 times per short rest (assuming a magical shield between +1 to +3 that regenerates on short rests). This seemed like a good way to further increase the revised Fighter's durability, while simultaneously offering limited protection from directed elemental attacks from spellcasters.
This was a really good idea in the aforementioned thread, and I really felt it needed to be a part of any revised Fighter.
4. Advantage against, and then immunity to the frightened condition, seemed like something a hardened fighter would develop over time. Combat is a stressful, terrifying ordeal, so it really seems to make sense that Fighters would eventually become accustomed/numb to that fear, or conditioned to mitigate it. As the Fighter gains experience and marches towards ever greater threats, becoming more and more an epic hero, fear simply shouldn't plague them any longer.
Overall, I feel like this version of the 5e Fighter condenses a lot of the martial classes together and offers a more complete package to the martial experience. It doesn't try to replicate spellcasters on a 1:1 ratio, and honestly in the absence of any other changes, spellcasters still have the edge even against this revised Fighter. But I feel like this Fighter is better at doing what it's supposed to do (fighting monsters, absorbing damage, shrugging off potential conditions, etc), all while offering some subclasses that distinguish one fighter from another (the bloodthirsty Marauder, the pious Knight, the resourceful Skirmisher, the low-blow Opportunist, and the arcane Spellsword).
I by no means feel this is a perfect revision of the Fighter and welcome any critical thoughts. If something feels OP, say it. If something feels too weak, again, say it. Got an alternative idea? Say it.
This was merely an exercise to get the juices flowing and see what can be done to improve the Fighter and martial combat overall. ^.^
Also, please disregard the "concierge" reference just under the Class Features section...editing mistake lol
