Okay overall I’m okay with were the fighter is at. Nothing has really been done to address the Martial/Caster divided, but that can’t be addressed in 5e update. That would require a 6e complete new game with different mechanics.
Base
All the changes seem positive to me so far. Indomitable might be overpowered if I’m reading it correctly. Saving throw+ fighter level would be d20+ save mod+ fighter level. Its practically a legendary resistance at high level play unless you have negative saving throw modifiers. One thing I dislike is this idea that fighters are going to be weapon swapping a lot. I don’t believe it for one second. Having more Weapon Masteries isn’t great.
Battle Master
No complaints. Battle Master has been good and remains good. Know Your Enemy is greatly improved by basically being the 5eR Hunters Lore or 5e Monster Slayer’s ability. Does this step on the Rangers toes? Guess that depends on if the Ranger has toes.
Brawler
Overall I like the class, but it’s not complete and has problems. Unarmed Expert and Grappling Expert should be one feature at 3rd level. There is no reason to have those as two separate features. The 10th level feature Dirty fighting should move down to 7th level. A new 10th level feature is needed.
Champion
I would have loved to see some of the UA Brute Fighter features get married into the Champions design, but the few changes they made are positives.
Eldritch Knight
Overall an Improvement. I would prefer Improved War Magic to lose the 1st or 2nd level spell restriction. Or just go back to the 5e Improved War Magic. The fact that as written in UA7 it wouldn’t function with my strongest spells just doesn’t feel right. I know they are trying to make sure you’re not allowed to cast 2 fireballs in a single turn, but there needs to be a better way to limit that.
Overall, I really like the Fighter as it stands in UA7. Giving Second Wind the Short Rest recharge back was a smart move. Changing the Action Surge limitation the way they did was good, and what they should have done in UA5. Tactical Mind is a small addition but a nifty one. Tactical Shift is VERY cool. Glad to see the ASI count restored to 6. Still not sure about the new Indomitable math, but I suppose by the time you reach a level where it's almost a Legendary Resistance, you'll be facing things with pretty high Save DCs. Studied Attacks is pretty fun. I'm not sure why they changed the Extra Attack language to a version that seems like it would create the exact confusion they tried to avoid with the 2014 wording. I still dig the Weapon Mastery stuff, glad Flex is gone.
The new Champion is very solid. The new Eldritch Knight is pretty cool, though it's odd that the spell level restriction for Improved War Magic is in the changelog but not the actual feature text. The Battle Master didn't need much tweaking, but the tweaks they made were good ones. The new Relentless is AWESOME. Conceptually I think the Brawler is very cool, but feels underpowered.
There's alot of things I like with the UA7 Fighter, but I feel like I love the humble little Tactical Mind the most. Let's face it, we've all had times when we felt we couldn't meaningfully contribute because we lacked a proficiency or something, but now Fighters can self-inspire (Martial Inspiration!) to a pretty substantial degree! Now I want to see a whole Marshall/Warlord subclass that delves into this feature more, borrowing a bit from the Bardic notebook and use Tactical Mind and Tactical Shift to direct allies.
Also, yeah, Indomitable is practically Legendary Resistance for Fighters now. And I'm totally fine with that. Let our plate-toting darlings true grit their way through those pesky petrifications and mind-controls!
Also-also? Eldritch Knight at level 18 sounds like a treat!
Player: "So, yeah, I hit 'em, right? That's a knockdown with my axe. Then I cast Scorching Ray.
DM: "Uh. Wait-"
Player: "Oh! Then I action surge! I hit them twice more with my axe. Aaand... Ray of Frost."
Tell me if I'm stupid: to justify having to use improvised weapons all the time shouldn't brawlers have a mechanic that they break their weapon to deal extra damage? I mean, why will I need improvised weapon traits if I always have my sword?
Tactical Mind is great! I just don't understand why it requires a use of you 2nd wind. Like, it's not OP at all...
Also, they to stop treating the 3rd Extra Attack as a capstone. Warlocks essentially get it at 17th level along side 9th level spells.
Agreed. Problem for Fighter is 17th Level is really crowded since you get 2nd Action Surge and 3rd Indomitable there. It would be nice if 3 extra attacks was 17th as well, but then what is the capstone feature another Feat?
Tactical Mind is great! I just don't understand why it requires a use of you 2nd wind. Like, it's not OP at all...
Also, they to stop treating the 3rd Extra Attack as a capstone. Warlocks essentially get it at 17th level along side 9th level spells.
Could you explain to me how Warlocks get three extra attacks at 17th? I can only think of dual wielding and can’t find anything in the play test.
They are talking about Eldritch blast getting a fourth ray at 17. They aren't actually talking about weapon attacks.
Ah, makes sense. Thanks. Though I suspect green-flame blade and booming blade being able to have agonising blast added will tip the scales further in their favour.
Where is my Brace maneuver and Throwing fighting style.?
Yeah, I'm not sure why they aren't just including all of the additional Fighting Styles(including the Ranger & Paladin ones that offered cantrips) and Battlemaster Maneuvers from Tasha's. If they need tweaks, fine. But I see no good reason to leave them out completely. Same with the Warlock Invocations, I'm particularly bummed that Far Scribe wasn't carried over.
Tactical Mind is great! I just don't understand why it requires a use of you 2nd wind. Like, it's not OP at all...
Also, they to stop treating the 3rd Extra Attack as a capstone. Warlocks essentially get it at 17th level along side 9th level spells.
Agreed. Problem for Fighter is 17th Level is really crowded since you get 2nd Action Surge and 3rd Indomitable there. It would be nice if 3 extra attacks was 17th as well, but then what is the capstone feature another Feat?
Well, for this reason I come with a proposal, both for THE REST OF THE fighter group, and for the fighter himself:
BARBARIAN AND MONK:
ADD:
ASI: In level 6
Two Extra Attacks: In level 15 or 17
Fighter:
Action Surge (Two Uses): Move to level 13, or 15 (To deconcentrate level 17 and thus put Three Extra Attacks on it.)
Three Extra Attacks: Move to level 17
ADD:
Four Extra Attacks: At level 20
In this way, these 3 non-magical classes are improved (And the melee difference is much clearer compared to the half spellcasters and other subclasses that get an extra attack, and the power scaling in levels is enhanced a little elevated compared to spellcasters who do not have their improvement speed flattened, since these obviously will NOT have a significant nerf.)
And the extra ASI for the monk explains itself, but without excluding the barbarian who is part of the group.
Tactical Mind is great! I just don't understand why it requires a use of you 2nd wind. Like, it's not OP at all...
Also, they to stop treating the 3rd Extra Attack as a capstone. Warlocks essentially get it at 17th level along side 9th level spells.
Agreed. Problem for Fighter is 17th Level is really crowded since you get 2nd Action Surge and 3rd Indomitable there. It would be nice if 3 extra attacks was 17th as well, but then what is the capstone feature another Feat?
Well, for this reason I come with a proposal, both for THE REST OF THE fighter group, and for the fighter himself:
BARBARIAN AND MONK:
ADD:
ASI: In level 6
Two Extra Attacks: In level 15 or 17
Fighter:
Action Surge (Two Uses): Move to level 13, or 15 (To deconcentrate level 17 and thus put Three Extra Attacks on it.)
Three Extra Attacks: Move to level 17
ADD:
Four Extra Attacks: At level 20
In this way, these 3 non-magical classes are improved (And the melee difference is much clearer compared to the half spellcasters and other subclasses that get an extra attack, and the power scaling in levels is enhanced a little elevated compared to spellcasters who do not have their improvement speed flattened, since these obviously will NOT have a significant nerf.)
And the extra ASI for the monk explains itself, but without excluding the barbarian who is part of the group.
At 15 fighter is getting a subclass feature and 13th might be too early for an additional action surge. Also 5 attacks per turn might be too much of a good thing even at level 20. Action surge and that’s 10 attacks. I would rather give them another feat than more attacks. I would even accept more damage per hit or better accuracy over more attacks. Barbarians need a bonus to damage, but not more attacks,
It's funny because, in my opinion, they are doing very well with the fighting classes; while they are doing mediocre with the casters.
Specifically, I think the fighter is getting a lot of love. Which is right. One of the things I liked least about 5e is that the fighters were so boring. Now, with the properties of the weapons, and some other features, this class always has some decision to make. Which makes it much more attractive to play than before.
Regarding playtest 7, I like that they have opened second wind for other things. I like that they give it a use outside of combat, and that you can move half your movement without OA when using it. That will also help mitigate another of 5e's problems, which is the lack of mobility in combat (although the changes would have to go much deeper to fix that).
Of the subclasses, I have played the Eldritch Knight from playtest 7 and I really liked it. However, I think he should be able to replace one of his attacks with a cantrip from level 5. The problem is that that's hard to do. At level 5 you cannot gain a subclass feature. And, if you put it at level 3, it's weird since you're gaining something that you won't be able to use until level 5. I don't know what the fix could be, but the subclass really cries out to be able to replace an attack with a cantrip from the moment he has multiattack.
NO BRACE, GRAPPLING, QUICK TOSS, - (The Tasha maneuvers they DID NOT ADD) Did they drop these three to limit maneuvers to 20? and of cource they had to be the maneuvers I usually use.
NO BRACE, GRAPPLING, QUICK TOSS, - (The Tasha maneuvers they DID NOT ADD) Did they drop these three to limit maneuvers to 20? and of cource they had to be the maneuvers I usually use.
When it comes to Fighting Styles, Battlemaster Maneuvers and Warlock Invocations, I'd really like to hear something from them why some were carried in from Tasha's/Xanathar's and not others.
All the changes seem positive to me so far. Indomitable might be overpowered if I’m reading it correctly. Saving throw+ fighter level would be d20+ save mod+ fighter level. Its practically a legendary resistance at high level play unless you have negative saving throw modifiers. One thing I dislike is this idea that fighters are going to be weapon swapping a lot. I don’t believe it for one second. Having more Weapon Masteries isn’t great.
At high levels, casters can turn into dragons, call meteor's from the heavens, and alter reality with just a few words. Compared to the Fighters getting semi-legendary resistance three times a day isn't that crazy XD
And from what I'm reading from the Master Of Armaments ability, it seems like Fighters are going to be the only martial class not swapping around weapons, at least not past Lv.9. At lower levels it'll probably still be a thing though, but even then I doubt Fighters will be carrying more then one or two weapons. Still, maybe an ability to swap on weapon out for another once per turn as a free action or bonus action wouldn't go amiss.
Anyways, I really like the improvements they made to Fighter, like everyone else has said, if I were comparing this Fighter to 5e caster classes I'd say it's a good example of how to shorten the power gap between martials and casters.
The only complaints I have are that I'd like for them to bring back and find a way to work in that Weapon Adept feature from the previous play test somehow, maybe put it back as the Level 13 feature either coupled with Studied Attacks or package it with Master Of Armaments at Level 9, though I can see their being the issue of that being a lot to give Fighters in a single level.
I think Champion still needs a bit of a buff, but it's an improvement, personally I'd give them back that extra skill proficiency from the last playtest, maybe couple it with The Additional Fighting Style at level 7? Also, I think Heroic Rally should still function even if you're at 0 Hit Points. It's Level 18, with Disintegrations and creatures having 3+ attacks on the regular, let the Champion Fighter not have to worry about death saves. I'd still let them keep their Defy Death feature, just in case something prevents them from regaining Hit Points, they still have a chance to get up. I'd also add something to their Level 15 feature, maybe something similar to Barbarians Brutal Critical where, if they crit, they add an extra d12 to the damage, or maybe when they crit with a weapon attack they now triple the damage die?
Brawler looks fun but needs a bit more tweaking, I'll look a bit more into the class later, but I generally agree with everyone suggestions here. I'm glad they reworded Eldritch Knights abilities to allow them to use Action Surge to casts 2 spells in a turn, that was cool, and Battle Master stays winning with the buffs to Know Your Enemy and Relentless, though I'm mulling over the thought of whether it should be a Level 10 ability instead and the Level 15 ability removing the d8 restriction on the free maneuver.
Also the capstone feature still needs...more to it, I've always thought that Battle Masters capstone feature was underwhelming. Having your d10's turn into d12's is nice, but a bit underwhelming for an ability you get a Level 18, they should also give you something with some real "oomph" behind it! Maybe something like you can use Relentless twice per turn or at least have it so Relentless use a d12 instead of a d8. At the very least they should let you learn 2 more maneuvers at Level 18 to give you more to play with. Eldritch Knight let's you potentially cast two Fireballs and make four attacks in a single turn, Rune Knight let's you grow Huge, and Samurai can literally delay their death and interrupt an enemies turn at that level!
Battle Master? Maybe does an extra point of damage or two when using a maneuver...kinda underwhelming compared to all the great stuff you got from Battle Master.
Wow, did not mean to turn that into an essay of critiques, once I started I just sort of...when off! Despite all that, I really do love the improvements they made to the Fighter class, they fixed a lot of the problems while still keeping the same feeling the class has in 5e. It just needs a few small tweeks in my opinion and I'd say it'd be set!
Okay overall I’m okay with were the fighter is at. Nothing has really been done to address the Martial/Caster divided, but that can’t be addressed in 5e update. That would require a 6e complete new game with different mechanics.
Base
All the changes seem positive to me so far. Indomitable might be overpowered if I’m reading it correctly. Saving throw+ fighter level would be d20+ save mod+ fighter level. Its practically a legendary resistance at high level play unless you have negative saving throw modifiers. One thing I dislike is this idea that fighters are going to be weapon swapping a lot. I don’t believe it for one second. Having more Weapon Masteries isn’t great.
Battle Master
No complaints. Battle Master has been good and remains good. Know Your Enemy is greatly improved by basically being the 5eR Hunters Lore or 5e Monster Slayer’s ability. Does this step on the Rangers toes? Guess that depends on if the Ranger has toes.
Brawler
Overall I like the class, but it’s not complete and has problems. Unarmed Expert and Grappling Expert should be one feature at 3rd level. There is no reason to have those as two separate features. The 10th level feature Dirty fighting should move down to 7th level. A new 10th level feature is needed.
Champion
I would have loved to see some of the UA Brute Fighter features get married into the Champions design, but the few changes they made are positives.
Eldritch Knight
Overall an Improvement. I would prefer Improved War Magic to lose the 1st or 2nd level spell restriction. Or just go back to the 5e Improved War Magic. The fact that as written in UA7 it wouldn’t function with my strongest spells just doesn’t feel right. I know they are trying to make sure you’re not allowed to cast 2 fireballs in a single turn, but there needs to be a better way to limit that.
Quoting mostly for truth. I've drifted away from pure martials as a result of playing mostly fighters and rangers since the 80s and have just grown bored with them. However, I think the eldritch knight looks really interesting. Removing the spell school restrictions I think really turns loose potential as you can more easily select spells that make you into a better fighter. I think that's the key to making an EK really sing; not trying to be a wizard, but using magic to make you into the more versatile fighter on the battlefield.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Am I missing something? If Tactical Mind doesn't expend your Second Wind unless your D20 check succeeds, what prevents you from using it anytime you fail? Except self-control and maybe needing it later for a more important roll.
Because then you're potentially going into a fight with one less self-heal coupled with some extra, attack of opportunity free, move speed as a bonus action.
Funnily enough, the only downside to the buffs to Second Wind is that it's now a far more precious resource that is more likely to make or break a battle. You'll never know if that extra charge of Second Wind you used to persuade the shop keeper to give you a discount could've been the thing that kept you standing for another round or was able to get you within melee range of that spellcaster, or was able to get you out of an environmental hazard.
Yeah, it could be a little abusable in a session where you're certain that there's going to be little-to-no combat for the day, but so can a lot of the spells and cantrips from spellcasters, Bards especially.
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Okay overall I’m okay with were the fighter is at. Nothing has really been done to address the Martial/Caster divided, but that can’t be addressed in 5e update. That would require a 6e complete new game with different mechanics.
Base
All the changes seem positive to me so far. Indomitable might be overpowered if I’m reading it correctly. Saving throw+ fighter level would be d20+ save mod+ fighter level. Its practically a legendary resistance at high level play unless you have negative saving throw modifiers. One thing I dislike is this idea that fighters are going to be weapon swapping a lot. I don’t believe it for one second. Having more Weapon Masteries isn’t great.
Battle Master
No complaints. Battle Master has been good and remains good. Know Your Enemy is greatly improved by basically being the 5eR Hunters Lore or 5e Monster Slayer’s ability. Does this step on the Rangers toes? Guess that depends on if the Ranger has toes.
Brawler
Overall I like the class, but it’s not complete and has problems. Unarmed Expert and Grappling Expert should be one feature at 3rd level. There is no reason to have those as two separate features. The 10th level feature Dirty fighting should move down to 7th level. A new 10th level feature is needed.
Champion
I would have loved to see some of the UA Brute Fighter features get married into the Champions design, but the few changes they made are positives.
Eldritch Knight
Overall an Improvement. I would prefer Improved War Magic to lose the 1st or 2nd level spell restriction. Or just go back to the 5e Improved War Magic. The fact that as written in UA7 it wouldn’t function with my strongest spells just doesn’t feel right. I know they are trying to make sure you’re not allowed to cast 2 fireballs in a single turn, but there needs to be a better way to limit that.
Overall, I really like the Fighter as it stands in UA7. Giving Second Wind the Short Rest recharge back was a smart move. Changing the Action Surge limitation the way they did was good, and what they should have done in UA5. Tactical Mind is a small addition but a nifty one. Tactical Shift is VERY cool. Glad to see the ASI count restored to 6. Still not sure about the new Indomitable math, but I suppose by the time you reach a level where it's almost a Legendary Resistance, you'll be facing things with pretty high Save DCs. Studied Attacks is pretty fun. I'm not sure why they changed the Extra Attack language to a version that seems like it would create the exact confusion they tried to avoid with the 2014 wording. I still dig the Weapon Mastery stuff, glad Flex is gone.
The new Champion is very solid. The new Eldritch Knight is pretty cool, though it's odd that the spell level restriction for Improved War Magic is in the changelog but not the actual feature text. The Battle Master didn't need much tweaking, but the tweaks they made were good ones. The new Relentless is AWESOME. Conceptually I think the Brawler is very cool, but feels underpowered.
There's alot of things I like with the UA7 Fighter, but I feel like I love the humble little Tactical Mind the most. Let's face it, we've all had times when we felt we couldn't meaningfully contribute because we lacked a proficiency or something, but now Fighters can self-inspire (Martial Inspiration!) to a pretty substantial degree! Now I want to see a whole Marshall/Warlord subclass that delves into this feature more, borrowing a bit from the Bardic notebook and use Tactical Mind and Tactical Shift to direct allies.
Also, yeah, Indomitable is practically Legendary Resistance for Fighters now. And I'm totally fine with that. Let our plate-toting darlings true grit their way through those pesky petrifications and mind-controls!
Also-also? Eldritch Knight at level 18 sounds like a treat!
Player: "So, yeah, I hit 'em, right? That's a knockdown with my axe. Then I cast Scorching Ray.
DM: "Uh. Wait-"
Player: "Oh! Then I action surge! I hit them twice more with my axe. Aaand... Ray of Frost."
DM: "Listen here. How-"
Player: "I think I've got a bonus action, too..."
Tell me if I'm stupid: to justify having to use improvised weapons all the time shouldn't brawlers have a mechanic that they break their weapon to deal extra damage? I mean, why will I need improvised weapon traits if I always have my sword?
Where is my Brace maneuver and Throwing fighting style.?
Tactical Mind is great! I just don't understand why it requires a use of you 2nd wind. Like, it's not OP at all...
Also, they to stop treating the 3rd Extra Attack as a capstone. Warlocks essentially get it at 17th level along side 9th level spells.
Agreed, technically they are both still useable since Tasha’s is allowed with the playtest, but I would like them in the 2024 PHB.
Agreed. Problem for Fighter is 17th Level is really crowded since you get 2nd Action Surge and 3rd Indomitable there. It would be nice if 3 extra attacks was 17th as well, but then what is the capstone feature another Feat?
Could you explain to me how Warlocks get three extra attacks at 17th? I can only think of dual wielding and can’t find anything in the play test.
I can’t remember what’s supposed to go here.
They are talking about Eldritch blast getting a fourth ray at 17. They aren't actually talking about weapon attacks.
Ah, makes sense. Thanks. Though I suspect green-flame blade and booming blade being able to have agonising blast added will tip the scales further in their favour.
I can’t remember what’s supposed to go here.
Yeah, I'm not sure why they aren't just including all of the additional Fighting Styles(including the Ranger & Paladin ones that offered cantrips) and Battlemaster Maneuvers from Tasha's. If they need tweaks, fine. But I see no good reason to leave them out completely. Same with the Warlock Invocations, I'm particularly bummed that Far Scribe wasn't carried over.
Well, for this reason I come with a proposal, both for THE REST OF THE fighter group, and for the fighter himself:
BARBARIAN AND MONK:
ADD:
ASI: In level 6
Two Extra Attacks: In level 15 or 17
Fighter:
Action Surge (Two Uses): Move to level 13, or 15 (To deconcentrate level 17 and thus put Three Extra Attacks on it.)
Three Extra Attacks: Move to level 17
ADD:
Four Extra Attacks: At level 20
In this way, these 3 non-magical classes are improved (And the melee difference is much clearer compared to the half spellcasters and other subclasses that get an extra attack, and the power scaling in levels is enhanced a little elevated compared to spellcasters who do not have their improvement speed flattened, since these obviously will NOT have a significant nerf.)
And the extra ASI for the monk explains itself, but without excluding the barbarian who is part of the group.
At 15 fighter is getting a subclass feature and 13th might be too early for an additional action surge. Also 5 attacks per turn might be too much of a good thing even at level 20. Action surge and that’s 10 attacks. I would rather give them another feat than more attacks. I would even accept more damage per hit or better accuracy over more attacks. Barbarians need a bonus to damage, but not more attacks,
It's funny because, in my opinion, they are doing very well with the fighting classes; while they are doing mediocre with the casters.
Specifically, I think the fighter is getting a lot of love. Which is right. One of the things I liked least about 5e is that the fighters were so boring. Now, with the properties of the weapons, and some other features, this class always has some decision to make. Which makes it much more attractive to play than before.
Regarding playtest 7, I like that they have opened second wind for other things. I like that they give it a use outside of combat, and that you can move half your movement without OA when using it. That will also help mitigate another of 5e's problems, which is the lack of mobility in combat (although the changes would have to go much deeper to fix that).
Of the subclasses, I have played the Eldritch Knight from playtest 7 and I really liked it. However, I think he should be able to replace one of his attacks with a cantrip from level 5. The problem is that that's hard to do. At level 5 you cannot gain a subclass feature. And, if you put it at level 3, it's weird since you're gaining something that you won't be able to use until level 5. I don't know what the fix could be, but the subclass really cries out to be able to replace an attack with a cantrip from the moment he has multiattack.
NO BRACE, GRAPPLING, QUICK TOSS, - (The Tasha maneuvers they DID NOT ADD) Did they drop these three to limit maneuvers to 20? and of cource they had to be the maneuvers I usually use.
When it comes to Fighting Styles, Battlemaster Maneuvers and Warlock Invocations, I'd really like to hear something from them why some were carried in from Tasha's/Xanathar's and not others.
At high levels, casters can turn into dragons, call meteor's from the heavens, and alter reality with just a few words. Compared to the Fighters getting semi-legendary resistance three times a day isn't that crazy XD
And from what I'm reading from the Master Of Armaments ability, it seems like Fighters are going to be the only martial class not swapping around weapons, at least not past Lv.9. At lower levels it'll probably still be a thing though, but even then I doubt Fighters will be carrying more then one or two weapons. Still, maybe an ability to swap on weapon out for another once per turn as a free action or bonus action wouldn't go amiss.
Anyways, I really like the improvements they made to Fighter, like everyone else has said, if I were comparing this Fighter to 5e caster classes I'd say it's a good example of how to shorten the power gap between martials and casters.
The only complaints I have are that I'd like for them to bring back and find a way to work in that Weapon Adept feature from the previous play test somehow, maybe put it back as the Level 13 feature either coupled with Studied Attacks or package it with Master Of Armaments at Level 9, though I can see their being the issue of that being a lot to give Fighters in a single level.
I think Champion still needs a bit of a buff, but it's an improvement, personally I'd give them back that extra skill proficiency from the last playtest, maybe couple it with The Additional Fighting Style at level 7? Also, I think Heroic Rally should still function even if you're at 0 Hit Points. It's Level 18, with Disintegrations and creatures having 3+ attacks on the regular, let the Champion Fighter not have to worry about death saves. I'd still let them keep their Defy Death feature, just in case something prevents them from regaining Hit Points, they still have a chance to get up. I'd also add something to their Level 15 feature, maybe something similar to Barbarians Brutal Critical where, if they crit, they add an extra d12 to the damage, or maybe when they crit with a weapon attack they now triple the damage die?
Brawler looks fun but needs a bit more tweaking, I'll look a bit more into the class later, but I generally agree with everyone suggestions here. I'm glad they reworded Eldritch Knights abilities to allow them to use Action Surge to casts 2 spells in a turn, that was cool, and Battle Master stays winning with the buffs to Know Your Enemy and Relentless, though I'm mulling over the thought of whether it should be a Level 10 ability instead and the Level 15 ability removing the d8 restriction on the free maneuver.
Also the capstone feature still needs...more to it, I've always thought that Battle Masters capstone feature was underwhelming. Having your d10's turn into d12's is nice, but a bit underwhelming for an ability you get a Level 18, they should also give you something with some real "oomph" behind it! Maybe something like you can use Relentless twice per turn or at least have it so Relentless use a d12 instead of a d8. At the very least they should let you learn 2 more maneuvers at Level 18 to give you more to play with. Eldritch Knight let's you potentially cast two Fireballs and make four attacks in a single turn, Rune Knight let's you grow Huge, and Samurai can literally delay their death and interrupt an enemies turn at that level!
Battle Master? Maybe does an extra point of damage or two when using a maneuver...kinda underwhelming compared to all the great stuff you got from Battle Master.
Wow, did not mean to turn that into an essay of critiques, once I started I just sort of...when off! Despite all that, I really do love the improvements they made to the Fighter class, they fixed a lot of the problems while still keeping the same feeling the class has in 5e. It just needs a few small tweeks in my opinion and I'd say it'd be set!
Quoting mostly for truth. I've drifted away from pure martials as a result of playing mostly fighters and rangers since the 80s and have just grown bored with them. However, I think the eldritch knight looks really interesting. Removing the spell school restrictions I think really turns loose potential as you can more easily select spells that make you into a better fighter. I think that's the key to making an EK really sing; not trying to be a wizard, but using magic to make you into the more versatile fighter on the battlefield.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Am I missing something? If Tactical Mind doesn't expend your Second Wind unless your D20 check succeeds, what prevents you from using it anytime you fail? Except self-control and maybe needing it later for a more important roll.
Because then you're potentially going into a fight with one less self-heal coupled with some extra, attack of opportunity free, move speed as a bonus action.
Funnily enough, the only downside to the buffs to Second Wind is that it's now a far more precious resource that is more likely to make or break a battle. You'll never know if that extra charge of Second Wind you used to persuade the shop keeper to give you a discount could've been the thing that kept you standing for another round or was able to get you within melee range of that spellcaster, or was able to get you out of an environmental hazard.
Yeah, it could be a little abusable in a session where you're certain that there's going to be little-to-no combat for the day, but so can a lot of the spells and cantrips from spellcasters, Bards especially.