Follow-up to a discord conversation about pure Fighters.

[Poolson]

Rather than have a whole multi-hour conversation, where information gets lost or the information gets diluted in picking apart the nitty gritty, I thought I could submit my thoughts for whoever felt like coding to edit to their leisure or harvest some of these ideas as they are.

Hell you could ignore this entire thread if you want, you don't owe me anything.



1) Fighter perk usage:

A simple one, but an easy one: Fighter perks are 1/day. It doesn't feel very lively for the flavor of the perks.

VP made a suggestion years ago, but, I still think it's the right one: an easy way to address this, is make their perks a 1/5 or 10 minute CD.

If this becomes a thing, the nudges pure Fighter would need from thereon, are minimal.



2) Fighter perks and their 1/day abilities:

Some Fighter perks are lasting the test of time, but, some could use some touch-ups. Their 1/day perks lift them up in some regards, and, if they're accessible on a 5/10 minute counter, rather than a 1/day perk, I think it completes them.

(list provided by Bookworm in a conversation and I definitely agree that they need touch-ups, some major, some minor.)



- Squire

Squire gets Disarm for free, which is nice, and allows you to get Improved Disarm for the same price. Persuade, Lore and Concentration skill bonuses is also pretty handy, the former for politically active characters, the latter for enduring taunt checks.

The +2 charisma bonus at 8 is sort of whatever but I don't think dead levels for fighter perks is bad, when they already get Improved Criticals or Improved Knockdown at 8. I don't think it needs *too* much, just the aforementioned 1/cooldown bonus. You could stand to give it an additional +1 Persuade, Lore and Concentration, to help it along for its lower charisma modifier than one might expect from Bards, Politician Rogues and Paladins, as well as make it just that tiny bit harder to taunt.


 
- Vigilante & Rabel.

Vigilante fits a theme. +2 dodge AC vs chaotic and +1d4 bludgeoning vs chaotic is sweet. I think Rebel's level 8 perk could stand to match Vigilante's, though, except it's versus lawful instead of chaotic.





- Witchhunter.

I don't actually know what Witchhunter's potions give, but, maybe make their perk +2 GMW for 10 turns?

If their temporary potions don't count towards the potion cap, even better!





- Slaver

Slaver has some doodads that are nice. Tanglefoot Bags could be made temporary tanglefoot bag throwables (we can call them Mancatching Nets, or something, I unno'.) that are gained on rest and lost on reset. The rest feels right, and with their 1/day cooling down, their ability to snag people feels useful and is thematically cool.



- Marksman/Sharpshooter

Marksman/Sharpshooter gets unique ammunition, which is nice, but too little.

I'd give it a whole makeover, rather than adding to it.

Naga had a great idea here ages ago, which was:

level 1: +2 mighty on equipped bows/crossbows.

level 5: +3 mighty on equipped bows/crossbows, gain custom ammunition on rest (as it is currently).

level 8: +4 mighty on equipped bows. No +2 dexterity gain, like as is.

Vlaid also had a good idea, on making crossbows the 20/x3 ranged weapons, and bows the 19-20/x2 weapons, but that's starting to stray into another topic.





- Hound Master:

Hound Master is... not very good. Losing your dog and having to start all over is a pain in the butt. This one would probably need the most heavy work. It also treads on the toes of Rangers and Druids, who's Animal Companions are not good, and meant to be auxiliary damage (presumably, because their statlines are so low, and only a few of them have any gains like Spider with Poison on hit, and Hyena with 1d6 sneak attacks.).

I'd personally suggest making their dog be summoned at the last stage of its development, right off the bangle, and make it last like a summon monster trinket at the minimum caster level.

Their level 5 gain is 2/- piercing, and gain +3 spot, listen, search, instead of +2.

Their level 8 gain is 2/- slashing.



- Duelist & Pit Fighter.

I don't think Pit Fighter needs *too* much love. It already gains Dodge at 5 for free, and that's one feat less to get Mobility. Getting a +4 dodge AC bonus vs drinking potions or running away from combat is a good deal if it's only one feat. Getting +3 taunt for a class that doesn't get taunt to begin with is great. Its 8 perk is sort of a dead level, but, that's okay too.

Duelist, on the other hand, falls off in comparison to Pit Fighter. Its only gain is Uncanny Dodge at 8, and rather than go through the busy work of remaking both of these, I'd merge them together to make:

Arena Fighter

Level 1:
+3 taunt, +3 parry.

level 5:
Dodge bonus feat.

Level 8:
Uncanny Dodge 1, 10% movement speed.



- Drill Sergeant

Drill Sergeant is, I think, much too niche. Most people being within spitting distance of each other's levels doesn't really get to use much of its level 1 perk. I'd edit the level limit to only to not gain XP if you're higher level than the Drill Sergeant.

I'd make the level 5 perk gain the same bonuses, but at +2, and make them gain intimidate.

Their Master of the Drill ability 2/day would be a perfect fit to combo with their 1/day ability, were the 1/day limitation changed to 1/5-10 minutes.




- Desert Warrior

Desert Warrior gives a +2 fortitude save bonus for free, which is nice. Their bonuses vs fire are niche but potentially useful if comboed with a spellcaster who's using fire spells, and can just drop them on top of you.

I think their damage shield does too little damage and could stand to be upped to match Death Armor.




- Brawler

Brawler, what sets it apart from a Monk, I think, is that it's more like a wrestler. Their feats let them take stuff like Improved Disarm and Improved Knockdown instead. I think if you wanted to lean into that theme, you could give them knockdown and disarm as bonus feats at 1, so long as they have no weapons equipped in their hands.



- Bodyguard

I love the theme of Bodyguard, as someone who's an infallible shield man to a person of interest. Their bonuses fall short of Laysword, but, I think Bodyguard has room for something fun to be done to it.

Level 1:
Bodyguard Defensive Token

(Click someone to designate who you're guarding. While they are in a large radius next to you, they gain +1 to Dodge AC.)

Level 5:
Replace Bodyguard Defensive Token with Bodyguard Attentive Token
(Click someone to designate who you're guarding. While they are in a large radius next to you, they gain +1 to will saves, and +1 Dodge AC.)

Level 8:
Replace Bodyguard Defensive Token with Bodyguard Cover Token
(Click someone to designate who you're guarding. While they are in a large radius next to you, they gain +1 to will saves, +1 Dodge AC, and 20% Concealment.)



- Vagabond (Bookworm didn't mention this one, I wanted to bring it up though.)

Vagabond was fixed so that you couldn't "buff into" a higher bonus while wearing medium or light armor. I feel like that sort of takes away from why people chose the perk to begin with, for 2 extra armor AC that can't be used in tandem with Magic Vestment cast from someone else. If it made a return to that, I'm sure this feat would be perfectly useful.


- Bravo (She didn't add this either, but, I thought, what the heck, why not, right?)

Bravo is going to get outshined by Fencer pretty quickly, and, that's Fencer's gimmick, so, everything as it should be.

If you wanted to keep this around, I'd just mesh all of the one handed bonus together. +1 AB, +1 Dodge AC, +2 positive damage, and keep their activated perk the same.