A lot of ideas are being thrown around for high level fighters at the moment, so I thought I would throw my hat in the ring and showcase this model.
Now to start out, I do NOT think this fighter fully solves the problem of high level casters. I’ve come to terms with the notion that a very strong and vocal part of the audience wants to keep their fighters mundane at any level. With that in mind, I have attempted to close the gap, with the acknowledgment that its virtually impossible to completely catch up without some magical assistance.
My design goals with these abilities are as follows:
Stalker0’s High Level Fighter
*=Ability that was modified
**=new ability
Note: Any level not shown here is the same as the core fighter.
Indomitable – The fighter can use this ability to automatically pass a saving throw, or to turn one hit into a miss. Refresh on Short Rest.
--Designer Note: Around 9th level, casters start gaining spells that no longer require saving throws, and in general gain very strong effects. To counter, we give the fighter a strong defense. WOTC has really overestimated the power of a saving throw reroll, especially at these levels. So we are going to give this ability a very solid buff. Players love immunities and guaranteed abilities, and it’s cool and flavorful to confidentially shrug off an attack or spell no matter the DC. Yet the ability remains mundane, for it provides the fighter nothing that lucky dice rolls couldn’t muster. The ability also now refreshes on a short rest to more strongly showcase the fighter as an encounter type fighter.
Adaptive Style – The fighter has trained his body to handle any situation, and can focus his mind to accomplish any task. Select any feat from the following list (list not provided for this example) or any feat with the “adaptive” keyword. As a bonus action, you may swap the feat with another viable option. The feat benefit remains until the feat is swapped.
At 19th level, the fighter gains a second feat to use with this ability. All swaps refresh on a Short Rest.
--Designer Note: The simple truth is, you ask 10 people on the forums what abilities a fighter should have, and you’ll get 10 different answers. There is no substitute for the flexibility a caster has by gaining a new spell into their arsenal, but the closest equivalent are feats.
Adaptive Style turns the high-level Fighter into a true “everyman” and is one of the cornerstones of his move into high levels. The fighter can adjust his feats to meet the encounter at hand, giving him unparalleled flexibility. The ability can be used for combat but also in theory to help with the social and exploration pillars. What’s also great is we don’t need a new custom list of abilities, we can already utilize the feats that have been created, and simply add new feats to provide additional abilities to the fighter as needed.
Also, for simpler play, this can just remain a static feat slot that no one ever changes, so the simple-focused player can still enjoy it.
Authority: The fighter’s reputation and commanding presence create a sense of awe and devotion in all those of military mind. All nonn-hostile soldiers, warriors, and members of military organizations whose level or CR are lower than your fighter level are charmed by you. If these forces are hostile, or become hostile, they make a charisma saving throw (DC 8 + prof bonus + cha mod) or become frightened of you. A creature that passes the saving throw is immune to the effect for 24 hours.
--Designer Notes: So, while somewhat a combat ability, the primary goal of Authority is to give the Fighter a fun social pillar ability. Fighters have long held a tradition in dnd of being “leaders”, leading strongholds, gathering followers, etc.
This ability gives the Fighter’s that strong niche, but not too “overtly”. A player could certainly work with the DM to use authority to pick up some followers, but it’s not just handwaved by the power. This is also a great DM lever to pull, the DM can introduce various organizations or soldiers to give the fighter an immediate opportunity to flex some social muscle. What’s also nice is this ability does not overlap too much with other social pillars. The paladin and bard still reign supreme with normal people, but the fighter now gets a strong bonus with “his people”.
On the offense side, giving the Fighter a fear aura for a specific niche of enemies seems appropriate for the higher levels. While the fighter is not normally high in charisma, since it’s a charisma saving throw, its in effect a charisma vs charisma effect…which is appropriate for fear.
Sentinel: After surviving dozens of ambushes, the fighter has gained a sixth sense to the location of his foes. The fighter knows the exact location of all hostile creatures within 30 feet, provided he has line of sight to the location. The fighter can even detect hidden and invisible creatures, but gains no special combat benefits against them.
--Designer Notes: This Exploration Pillar ability gives the Fighter a very useful ability in navigating dungeon spaces, as he is able to notice upcoming threats and ambushes before they trigger. This also is a way to somewhat deal with invisible enemies that tend to be common high-level threats. The rogue still dominates in the trap area, and the ranger still excels at long distance tracking, so this ability doesn’t hinder any niche protection.
Invincible: When the body is broken and exhausted, the fighter collects himself, and proves that he is a warrior without peer. As a free action, the fighter gains the ability of a short rest. This recharges on a long rest.
--Designer’s Note: Honestly Extra Attack is a decent capstone, but the fighter already differentiates itself with 3 attacks at lower levels. The goal is to end the game with a bang, and so we add in a new capstone that is the culmination of everything the fighter has brought in to date.
More action surge, more second wind, more indomitable…. You can push the fighter to the brink, but the 20th level fighter will show you his full power all over again. It is still mundane compared to casters, but few could argue the coolness and power of instantly recovering all of your toys when you need them most.
Now to start out, I do NOT think this fighter fully solves the problem of high level casters. I’ve come to terms with the notion that a very strong and vocal part of the audience wants to keep their fighters mundane at any level. With that in mind, I have attempted to close the gap, with the acknowledgment that its virtually impossible to completely catch up without some magical assistance.
My design goals with these abilities are as follows:
- Flexibility: Casters get to use different tools (aka spells) to adapt to different encounters. We want the fighter to share in some of that flexibility.
- Consistency: At higher levels, more spells have abilities without saves, aka effects that just “work”. Its only fair to give the fighter’s some cool abilities that work beyond the dice, they just simply work.
- Exploration and Social Pillar: While the fighter remains high on the combat pillar, we want to expand them more in the Exploration and Social space, to give a more well rounded class.
Stalker0’s High Level Fighter
*=Ability that was modified
**=new ability
Note: Any level not shown here is the same as the core fighter.
9th | +4 | Indomitable* |
10th | +4 | Martial Archetype feature |
11th | +4 | Extra Attack (2) |
12th | +4 | Adaptive Style** |
13th | +5 | Authority** |
14th | +5 | Sentinel** |
15th | +5 | Martial Archetype feature |
16th | +5 | Ability Score Improvement |
17th | +6 | Action Surge (two uses) |
18th | +6 | Martial Archetype feature |
19th | +6 | Adaptive Style** |
20th | +6 | Invincible** |
Indomitable – The fighter can use this ability to automatically pass a saving throw, or to turn one hit into a miss. Refresh on Short Rest.
--Designer Note: Around 9th level, casters start gaining spells that no longer require saving throws, and in general gain very strong effects. To counter, we give the fighter a strong defense. WOTC has really overestimated the power of a saving throw reroll, especially at these levels. So we are going to give this ability a very solid buff. Players love immunities and guaranteed abilities, and it’s cool and flavorful to confidentially shrug off an attack or spell no matter the DC. Yet the ability remains mundane, for it provides the fighter nothing that lucky dice rolls couldn’t muster. The ability also now refreshes on a short rest to more strongly showcase the fighter as an encounter type fighter.
Adaptive Style – The fighter has trained his body to handle any situation, and can focus his mind to accomplish any task. Select any feat from the following list (list not provided for this example) or any feat with the “adaptive” keyword. As a bonus action, you may swap the feat with another viable option. The feat benefit remains until the feat is swapped.
At 19th level, the fighter gains a second feat to use with this ability. All swaps refresh on a Short Rest.
--Designer Note: The simple truth is, you ask 10 people on the forums what abilities a fighter should have, and you’ll get 10 different answers. There is no substitute for the flexibility a caster has by gaining a new spell into their arsenal, but the closest equivalent are feats.
Adaptive Style turns the high-level Fighter into a true “everyman” and is one of the cornerstones of his move into high levels. The fighter can adjust his feats to meet the encounter at hand, giving him unparalleled flexibility. The ability can be used for combat but also in theory to help with the social and exploration pillars. What’s also great is we don’t need a new custom list of abilities, we can already utilize the feats that have been created, and simply add new feats to provide additional abilities to the fighter as needed.
Also, for simpler play, this can just remain a static feat slot that no one ever changes, so the simple-focused player can still enjoy it.
Authority: The fighter’s reputation and commanding presence create a sense of awe and devotion in all those of military mind. All nonn-hostile soldiers, warriors, and members of military organizations whose level or CR are lower than your fighter level are charmed by you. If these forces are hostile, or become hostile, they make a charisma saving throw (DC 8 + prof bonus + cha mod) or become frightened of you. A creature that passes the saving throw is immune to the effect for 24 hours.
--Designer Notes: So, while somewhat a combat ability, the primary goal of Authority is to give the Fighter a fun social pillar ability. Fighters have long held a tradition in dnd of being “leaders”, leading strongholds, gathering followers, etc.
This ability gives the Fighter’s that strong niche, but not too “overtly”. A player could certainly work with the DM to use authority to pick up some followers, but it’s not just handwaved by the power. This is also a great DM lever to pull, the DM can introduce various organizations or soldiers to give the fighter an immediate opportunity to flex some social muscle. What’s also nice is this ability does not overlap too much with other social pillars. The paladin and bard still reign supreme with normal people, but the fighter now gets a strong bonus with “his people”.
On the offense side, giving the Fighter a fear aura for a specific niche of enemies seems appropriate for the higher levels. While the fighter is not normally high in charisma, since it’s a charisma saving throw, its in effect a charisma vs charisma effect…which is appropriate for fear.
Sentinel: After surviving dozens of ambushes, the fighter has gained a sixth sense to the location of his foes. The fighter knows the exact location of all hostile creatures within 30 feet, provided he has line of sight to the location. The fighter can even detect hidden and invisible creatures, but gains no special combat benefits against them.
--Designer Notes: This Exploration Pillar ability gives the Fighter a very useful ability in navigating dungeon spaces, as he is able to notice upcoming threats and ambushes before they trigger. This also is a way to somewhat deal with invisible enemies that tend to be common high-level threats. The rogue still dominates in the trap area, and the ranger still excels at long distance tracking, so this ability doesn’t hinder any niche protection.
Invincible: When the body is broken and exhausted, the fighter collects himself, and proves that he is a warrior without peer. As a free action, the fighter gains the ability of a short rest. This recharges on a long rest.
--Designer’s Note: Honestly Extra Attack is a decent capstone, but the fighter already differentiates itself with 3 attacks at lower levels. The goal is to end the game with a bang, and so we add in a new capstone that is the culmination of everything the fighter has brought in to date.
More action surge, more second wind, more indomitable…. You can push the fighter to the brink, but the 20th level fighter will show you his full power all over again. It is still mundane compared to casters, but few could argue the coolness and power of instantly recovering all of your toys when you need them most.
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