D&D General What does the mundane high level fighter look like? [+]

[doctorbadwolf]

A high level fighter should just be death incarnate to anything more than a level or two below them. Just, every attack is like 'save versus death' and every time you try to escape or cast a spell in their reach it triggers two AoOs and an ongoing penalty. Imagine being attacked by Muhammad Ali but he's twice as powerful and carrying a giant sword. It would be utterly overwhelming. All of these '+2 to this' and 'have your second choice fighting style as well' type bonuses are just too small.

I actually agree.

My Assassin class has a save vs death attack against creatures with a CR less than half their level, and the fighter should do that with a higher limit on CR and less getting into position.

IMO fighters should be able to just kill everything within reach as they use their movement, as long as the targets are low enough CR. A walking death AoE.

When the BBEG tries to use a special ability, the fighter punches them. When they try to cast, the fighter punches them. When they take the attack action and target a creature other than the fighter, the fighter punches them. If they miss the fighter, the fighter punches them.

Forget extra extra attacks, give them 1 reaction per turn, and all kinds of stuff triggers OAs for them.

 

[Scribe]

A high level fighter should just be death incarnate to anything more than a level or two below them. Just, every attack is like 'save versus death' and every time you try to escape or cast a spell in their reach it triggers two AoOs and an ongoing penalty. Imagine being attacked by Muhammad Ali but he's twice as powerful and carrying a giant sword. It would be utterly overwhelming. All of these '+2 to this' and 'have your second choice fighting style as well' type bonuses are just too small.

I actually have something like this in my working notes for 'my' 5e, but I dont look at these threads as 'lets rebuild the game!' because I just dont think thats realistic.

Fighters, when it comes to the blood and guts part of 'Fighting' should be absolute wrecking machines.

 

[Eubani]

I wonder how much of a Fighter's problems are in the form of bad Monster design? Monster HP bloat affects many things negatively on the player side.

 

[soviet]

I wonder how much of a Fighter's problems are in the form of bad Monster design? Monster HP bloat affects many things negatively on the player side.

Yeah. I think a lot about arrows. If it really took several arrows for a generic archer to take out even one medium threat like an orc or a hobgoblin, bows just would not be a practical weapon to carry round

 

[MichaelSomething]

Yeah. I think a lot about arrows. If it really took several arrows for a generic archer to take out even one medium threat like an orc or a hobgoblin, bows just would not be a practical weapon to carry round

The good places would just upgrade to pump action crossbows...

 

[Eubani]

It would be interesting to see the average increase in hp for common monster types across various types and power levels of monster across editions. Unfortunately I lack the time to undertake such a task.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Devastating Strike
If you only make one attack on a turn, deal +[W] damage for each Extra Attack you have.

I'm using the 4e parlance for simplicity. Basically, if the fighter could make 3 attacks with a longbow normally, they could instead make a single attack for 3d8 damage.
This isn't something a fighter would typically use on their turn, since making 3 attacks is usually better. However, it would make readied attacks and OAs significantly more threatening. Currently, a high level fighter's OAs deal a fairly insignificant amount of damage, and having to ready an action results in an unreasonably large loss of damage, IMO.

Longshot
Every X levels, increase the close range of ranged attacks you make by 5, and the long range by 10.

I don't like that a 1st level wizard with 8 strength can throw a javelin or shoot an arrow the same distance as a (supposedly master of weapons) 20th level fighter with 20 strength. Sure, the fighter is far more likely to hit with the attack, but it still doesn't make sense that both attacks travel the same distance. This also improves the strength based fighter's innately poor ability to fight at range.

Historical Research
Once per X levels, the fighter player can declare they have tracked down a lead on a magical item chosen from [list of options]. The DM may choose to create and run an adventure, which should generally not exceed one session in length, after the completion of which the fighter obtains that item. Alternately, the DM may simply choose to have the adventure take place during downtime, in which case the fighter obtains the item after the downtime completes.

I believe that martial characters have a higher reliance on magic items than casters. Magic items are the domain of the DM, so their quantity and quality cannot be readily assumed. This creates a player facing option for obtaining a small number of curated items, enhancing the player's ability to create their fighter the way they envision.

I realize this thread stipulated nothing inherently magical, but this isn't. Anyone can technically track down a lead on a magic item and go on an adventure to retrieve it, assuming the DM allows it. This simply guarantees that the fighter can do so a limited number of times per campaign, without having to rely on fiat. The wizard is able to conduct magical research in the background while adventuring, so why can't the fighter research the location of magic items? The reason it may or may not require the actual adventure to be played out is because, from what I've gathered, some DMs take issue if magic items are "unearned", while other DMs may feel put out if they need to design an adventure specifically for this purpose. Hence, choices.

 

[Minigiant]

I wonder how much of a Fighter's problems are in the form of bad Monster design? Monster HP bloat affects many things negatively on the player side.

A lot of it.

The design of monsters and the fighter's weapon attack were designed seperately which creates a situation where the fighter has the slash or shoot the most basic of foes several times to slay them.

That's truly a D&Dism.

 

[Eubani]

I remember when Lolth had about 66hp.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

Maybe bring back the first-edition Sweep attacks where they're being mobbed by lower ability monsters, each attack becomes a close AOE effect.