8Kinetic Vanguard - Homebrew FIghter Subclass

5.15.0 is now out.

This update mostly resolves nitpicks and clarity issues.

Enjoy!

5.16.0 is out. Changes include a mostly revamped arsenal II selection at level 20:
Otions are now the following:

• Mind Crush (retained) — Wis save, Incapacitated → no reactions → Stunned
• Reality Fracture (new) — Con save, 2 MS dice force + no reactions → Restrained → Stunned
• Psionic Detonation (new) — Dex save, 15 ft AoE force → larger radius → Prone + push

Psychic Shell and Astral Anchor removed. Historical v5.0 changelog reference left intact.

5.17.0 is now out.
Changelog:

New progression curve:

• 5th: Deflection Screen (fixed core feature)
• 7th: Empathic Sense, Vanguard Training, Discipline 7th
• 10th: Psionic Step (fixed core feature), Discipline 10th
• 15th: Psionic Arsenal — choose 1 of 3 high-tier
• 20th: Psionic Arsenal II — choose 1 of remaining 2

Mind Crush ladder fixed: no reactions → Incapacitated → Stunned

Section 05 reorganized: "Core Techniques" header for the Deflection Screen / Psionic Step Overload reference, "Psionic Arsenal" header for the three elective picks. Intro text explains both.

Updated throughout: Design Notes, Cliff Notes, How to Play, feature table, all core feature descriptions. Historical changelog entries left intact.

5.17.1 is out now.

v5.19.0 done. Psi Reservoir formula is now ⌈Fighter level ÷ 2⌉ + Proficiency Bonus.

Updated table values: 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16. A 3-Psi Advanced Technique costs 25% or less of the pool from 13th onward. No other mechanics touched.

v5.19.1 done. "One rider per hit" is now stated in four places:

• Cliff Notes (Overload entry): "MS, one rider, all Overloads in one go"
• How to Play: "One rider per hit, period — discipline or Advanced Technique, pick one. You may use different riders on different hits within the same Attack action."
• Blood Tax box: "One rider per hit (discipline or Advanced Technique)."
• Declaration paragraph: "One rider per hit, regardless of source. You may use different riders on different hits within the same Attack action."

v5.19.2 done. The Attack Declaration Costs table sits in Section 01 between the warning box and the die step order, showing all six combinations with their Psi and Blood Tax costs. Footnote reads:

*Blood Tax per tier: PB at Tier 1, +2×PB at Tier 2 (3×PB total). Each Overload declared pays independently — an Overloaded MS plus an Overloaded rider means two separate Blood Taxes on one hit.

v5.20.0 done. Two additions:

Full turn breakdown — Level 11 Pyro, three attacks, escalating aggression:

• Attack 1: Base MS + T2 Ember Lance → 0 Psi (Instinct), 12 Blood Tax, target burning + vulnerable
• Attack 2: T2 MS + T1 Flare → 2 Psi, 16 Blood Tax (two Overloads = two Taxes), die stepped to 1d12, target potentially Blinded
• Attack 3: Naked Base MS → free cleanup swing
• Totals: 2 Psi spent, 28 self-damage, one very dead-looking target

Steeled Mind stub — proper feature header block in Section 02 between Phase Step (10th) and Advanced Technique (15th), matching the doc's visual pattern. Was in the feature table but had no corresponding entry in the core features section.

v5.22.0 done. Six fixes plus the abbreviations box:

Duration fixes:

• Vectored Thrust: Now Concentration, up to 10 minutes. T1 fly adds "ends early if you are incapacitated" — no floating KOs.
• Arctic Tempest base: Restrained now explicitly "until the end of your next turn."

Cheese fixes:

• Mass Levitation While Levitated: Capped to "the first time each turn it is hit" — was "whenever hit," which let Extra Attack stack bonus damage on every swing.
• Deflection Screen T2: Auto speed reduction + auto 5 ft push gone. Now a clean Str save: fail = 15 ft push + Prone, save = 5 ft push only.

Readability:

• Abbreviations box after Cliff Notes: MS, BT, OL, PB, Psi, T1/T2 — all defined in one place so the rest of the doc can use shorthand without confusion.

v5.23.0 done. Three changes:

T0 rename: All 19 Base: labels → T0: across every discipline, capstone, and Advanced Technique feature. Cost table, examples, Psionic Instinct, Spreading Flames, and abbreviations box all updated. Riders now read T0/T1/T2 consistently.

Tier relationship clarification: Overload intro now states: "For Manifested Strike, each tier builds on the previous. For riders, each tier's text states whether it adds to or replaces the lower tier's effect." Clean and honest — no universal rule that doesn't hold.

MS clarification: Now reads "you can replace any number of your weapon attacks" — no more ambiguity about whether MS is capped to one swing per Attack action.

v5.23.1 done. Three changes:

Psionic Instinct — simplified to two sentences, changed from once per turn to once per Attack action. Action Surge now grants a second free T0 rider.

OL independence — "MS Overload and rider Overload are independent; you can Overload one, the other, both, or neither" stated in all three rules locations: How to Play, Blood Tax box, and declaration paragraph.

Stale cleanup — remaining "base rider" and "per turn" references in How to Play fixed to "T0 rider" and "per Attack action."

v5.24.0 done. Four changes:

MS PB removed. Manifested Strike no longer adds PB to one damage roll per turn. Supremacy passives at 10th are now the sole PB-to-damage source. Levels 3–9 run on mod-only MS damage with free T0 riders doing the real work.

Ember Lance splash removed. Kill-trigger AoE is gone. Ember Lance is now pure single-target burn: PB fire on hit + PB fire at start of target's next turn. Clean.

Flare rewritten as single-target debuff:

• T0: Con save or Blinded until end of your next turn
• T1: +1 MS die fire damage
• T2: Incapacitated instead of Blinded

No more AoE burst. Pyro now has Pyrokinetic Blast as its AoE on-hit and Flare as its single-target control — cleaner role separation.

Blazing Eruption → Pyrokinetic Blast. Heat and pressure wave, not lava. Spreading Flames T1/T2 references updated.

Full turn example recalculated: ~95 fire across two turns for 2 Psi and 28 HP, target Blinded.

v5.24.1 done. Grok audit fixes:

• Fire Supremacy declared in example — intro now reads "Before your first MS roll, you declare Fire Supremacy Bonus Damage (+PB to one hit this turn)." Attack 1 declare includes it, On hit shows +4 (Fire Supremacy PB) = 1d8+8, totals recalculated to ~100 fire.
• "Flare T0 cost" → "Flare cost" — activation cost is feature-level, not tier-level.
• How to Play standardized — now reads "once per Attack action, your first Manifested Strike hit triggers your discipline's T0 rider for free" — matches Psionic Instinct wording exactly.
• All three Supremacy blocks verified complete and parallel (Cold, Fire, Force — all have Resistance, Bonus Damage, Ribbon, and T1/T2 Overload).

v5.24.2 done. The equation block sits right below the cost table footnote in Consolas:

Eod Of Round Blood Tax TOTAL = PB × (0×T0 + 1×T1 + 3×T2)

where T0, T1, T2 = number of Overload declarations at each tier that hit this action. T0 costs nothing. T1 costs PB each. T2 costs 3×PB each (includes T1). Sum across all hits.

Verified against the example: PB(4) × (0 + 1 + 6) = 28 ✓

v5.24.3 — both examples now use the equation format. A reader sees the formula, then immediately sees it applied in worked problems. No prose Blood Tax explanations left to parse.

v5.25.0 done. Massive pass — here's everything:

Renames:

• Deflection Screen → Advanced Training I
• Phase Step → Advanced Training II
• Advanced Technique → Advanced Training III
• Advanced Technique II → Advanced Training IV
• Pyrokinetic Blast → Blast
• Frost Cage → Snow Chains

Feature rewrites:

• Snow Chains — T1/T2 swapped. T0: Restrained (unchanged). T1: Restrained + PAM cold damage per turn. T2: Stunned instead of Restrained. Cleaner squeeze-tighter ladder.
• Telekinetic Slam T2 — lifted 15 ft and slammed into the ground. Prone + PAM force damage. Prone persists after Stun ends. Visceral, useful on save (Prone still matters).

Crit/SA clarification: Savage Attacker rolls the full 3d20kh2 package twice, keeps the higher set — 2(3d20kh2)kh. "Do not mix dice between throws; each set is resolved independently."

T0 Psi cost explicitly stated in the cost table footnote: "T0 riders cost Psi but no HP. Only T1+ Overloads incur Blood Tax."

Example rewrite:

• Attack 3 → T1 MS + T1 Ember Lance (1 Psi, BT 8 — shows the cost in action)
• All per-attack math simplified to averages
• Turn total shows full BT formula: PB × (0+3 + 3+1 + 1+1) = 4 × 9 = 36
• Damage: ~142 fire across two turns for 3 Psi and 36 HP

Muses credited. Historical changelogs preserved with old names.

v5.26.0 done. Three examples now cover every discipline and play pattern:

Nova (Pyro): T0 MS + T2 Ember Lance → T2 MS + T1 Flare → T1 MS + T1 Ember Lance. 3 Psi, 36 BT, ~142 fire across two turns. Burn everything, pay in blood.

Sustained (Psychokinesis): T1 MS + T0 Telekinetic Shove (Instinct free) → T0 MS → T0 MS. 0 Psi, 4 BT, ~35 force, one target repositioned. Sustainable indefinitely.

Lockdown (Cryokinesis): Frozen Ground active, T0 MS + T0 Glacial Spike (free) → T0 MS + T1 Glacial Spike → T0 MS. 1 Psi, 4 BT, ~31 cold, target likely speed 0 in difficult terrain, Prone on their turn. Low burn, high control.

One example per discipline. One approach vector per example. A new player reads all three and immediately understands the range of the subclass.