🛡️ Fighter Subclass: Center Shield

Theme: A shield-bearing commander who directs the flow of battle through precise strikes and unbreakable resolve, blending martial prowess with tactical leadership.

Center Shield

Level 3 Feature – Commander’s Arsenal

Your shield is both a weapon and a symbol of authority. Through hardened discipline and battlefield presence, you channel your instincts into decisive strikes and rallying commands.

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Leader’s Arsenal Table

Your shield damage and Leader’s Dice use the same die, scaling with your Fighter level:

• You have several Leader’s Dice equal to your Proficiency Bonus + Charisma modifier (minimum 1).

• You regain all expended Leader’s Dice when you finish a long rest.

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Shield Master

You treat your shield as a disciplined weapon of war:

• Your shield is a simple melee weapon you are proficient with.

• You use the Constitution for attack and damage rolls with your shield.

• It gains the thrown property (range 20/60) and automatically returns to your hand after each attack.

• It is considered magical to overcome resistance and immunity.

• Its damage die matches your current value from the Leader’s Arsenal Table.

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Leader Techniques

You can spend a Leader’s Die to perform a Leader Technique, divided into two categories:

• Shield Techniques – Performed when you hit a creature with a shield attack.

• Orders – Tactical commands issued to allies, activated as an action.

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Shield Techniques

1. Ricochet Throw
After being hit with a thrown shield attack:
Spend 1 Leader’s Die to make a second thrown attack against a different creature within 20 feet of the original target.
You may repeat this chain once per turn, spending 1 die for each additional target. Each target must be unique.

2. Break the Line
After hitting with a melee shield attack:
The target must make a Strength saving throw (DC = 8 + Proficiency Bonus + Constitution modifier + Leader’s Die).
On failure:

• It is pushed 5 feet

• The next attack against it has an advantage
  If you moved at least 10 feet in a straight line toward the target, add the Leader’s Die to the damage, push it an additional distance up to your movement, and knock it prone.

3. Stand Between
As an action:
Take the Dodge action and spend a Leader’s Die.
Until the start of your next turn, if a creature within 5 feet of you is targeted by an attack, you may redirect the attack to yourself. When you do, add the Leader’s Die to your AC and saving throws against that attack.

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Orders

1. Coordinated Assault (Action)
Choose an enemy you can see.
Several allies equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1) may each use a special reaction:

• Move up to 15 feet toward the target (opportunity attacks have disadvantage), or

• Make one melee/ranged weapon attack or cast a cantrip targeting that enemy.

2. Battle Standard (Action)
Choose one ally, or up to several allies equal to your Charisma modifier.
If one ally is chosen, they gain all three effects. If multiple, choose one effect they all receive until the start of your next turn:

• Advantage on attack rolls

• Enemies have a disadvantage in attacks against them

• Gain temporary hit points and healing equal to the Leader’s Die + your Charisma modifier

3. Hold the Line (Action)
Spend a Leader’s Die and roll it. You generate a 10-foot aura centered on you.
Until the start of your next turn:

• You and your allies in the aura gain a bonus to AC and all saving throws equal to the rolled die

• This effect ends immediately for any creature (including you) that moves willingly or is forced to move

• Affected creatures may still attack and take other actions normally

Fortified Presence

Level 7 Feature – Fortified Presence

Your unshakable composure radiates outward, reinforcing the stance and resolve of nearby allies.

• While you are conscious and not incapacitated, any ally adjacent to you (within 5 feet) gains a bonus to their AC and saving throws equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded down).

• This benefit does not apply if you are restrained, stunned, or unconscious, or if the ally moves away from you.

Tactical Reflexes

Level 10 Feature

Your training allows you to navigate dangerous terrain and strike decisively when enemies are isolated.

• You gain proficiency in Dexterity saving throws.

• When you succeed on a Dexterity saving throw to take half damage, you instead take no damage. When you fail, you take only half.

• When you make a weapon attack against a creature that has no other creatures (enemy or ally) adjacent to it, you have advantage on the attack roll.

Zone of Control

Level 15 Feature

Your battlefield presence is overwhelming — you are an immovable sentinel and a punishing obstacle to any who stray too close.

• You have advantage on saving throws against effects that would push, pull, or knock you prone.

• You have resistance to damage from opportunity attacks.

• When a creature enters your melee weapon range for the first time on a turn, it provokes an opportunity attack from you.

• When you make this opportunity attack, you may spend 1 Leader’s Die to turn it into a Break the Line attack. If the attack hits:

  • You apply Break the Line’s effects as normal

  • The creature is also knocked prone, on top of being pushed if they fail.

Bulwark Stance

Level 18 Feature

When the battle reaches its most desperate moment, you become a living bastion for your allies — holding the line through sheer will and unshakable purpose.

As a bonus action, you may enter a Bulwark Stance for 1 minute. You can use this feature once per long rest.

While in this stance:

• You automatically succeed on saving throws made to resist being pushed, pulled, or knocked prone.

• You may use Hold the Line or Stand Between without spending a Leader’s Die.

• Allies within 30 feet of you who have fewer hit points than you gain advantage on attack rolls and saving throws.

• If you are reduced to 0 hit points during this stance, you instead drop to 1 hit point, and the stance ends immediately.