So I'm currently working on updating the swordsage from 3.5 to 5e I be leave this is with in all the rules of the forms.
For this I want to make sure that the maneuvers that I am updating will not be broken or over powered in 5e. Their are 208 maneuvers from 3.5 that I want to bring to 5e. The maneuvers are separated into 9 disciplines Desert Wind, Devoted Spirit, Dimond Mind, Iron Heart, Setting Sun, Stone Dragon, Shadow Hand, Tigar Claw, and White Raven. I need help knowing if I went to far what should be taken out or scaled down. Some feed back would be most help full.
My first change is to make stances work more like can trips. They still have their level restrictions but this way your level 1 stances will not feel useless at the end of the campaign.
level 1 Dimond mind stance
The Clarity stance
In this stance, you choose a single opponent as your target at the start of your turn. You gain a +2 to AC from attacks of that opponents you take a –2 penalty to AC against all other opponents while using stance. Your attacks loos and cannot gain disadvantage vs the target (even if they become invisible) and you may select a new target as a free action if the selected target died.
At level 5: +4 Ac and -1 Ac
At level 10: +6 Ac and-1 Ac you can add this bonus to all sell saves and supernatural abilities of the target.
At level 14: +6 Ac and +6 to hit on first attack.
Blade focus: You can target a number of other creatures equal to your proficiency when you take this stance and your crit hit is reduces by your the Ac bonus that is added to your Ac.(At level 14 you would crit on a, 20-15) If you can only crit a number of times equal to twice your proficiency then you loos this stance until you activate it again.
Desert Wind Stance: 5 level
Firey Bombardment
While you are in this stance every attack you make deals 1d8 points of fire damage +1d4 radiant damage, if an opponent is hit with a melee attack or a desert wind maneuver while you are in this stance it will ignite add take 1d10 fire or radiant damage till the flames are put out using an action. At level 15 your attacks deal an additional 2d8 fire or radiant damage or 1d8 fire/1d8 radiant. You now have resistance to fire and radiant damage while in this stance.
Blade Focus: Your fire and radiant damager ignore resistance and deal half damage to enemies that would be immune. Range attacks can now set enemies on fire and you can make special melee attack at a rang of 15ft replacing your bludgeoning, piercing, of slashing damage with force. (example: punch now deals 1/4 force +1d8 fire+1d4 radiant.)
To activate a stance you must give up 5 feet of movement and be able to move on your turn you maintain that stance until you choose to take another stance or you fall prone or the dm forces you to make a dex or con save to see if you maintain your stave after being pushed back ect...
The second change to the maneuver system I plan to change is blade focus. Each of the 46 stances are separated into 9 disciplines and if you take the feat you also unlock all of the blade focus features for the maneuvers as shown above.
discipline focus: At 5th level, you gain the benefit of the Weapon Focus feat for weapons associated with the chosen discipline. The save DCs of any maneuvers that you perform from the chosen discipline are increased by 1, if they have a save DC and again the special combat feature. See the discipline descriptions below.
Insightful Strikes: you can add your 1 + Wisdom or Intelligence modifier as a bonus on damage rolls whenever you execute a strike from the chosen discipline and 1+ half as a standard attack as long as you use a preferred weapon of your chosen discipline.
Defensive Stance: you gain a +2 bonus on saving throws whenever you adopt a stance from the chosen discipline. You gain a +2 bonus on skill checks and saves made regarding a maneuver in a discipline in which you have discipline focus, plus the added ability feature.
The weapons and skills associated with each discipline are given below.
Diamond Mind: Rapier, Dagger, whip, spear, Scimitar, long bow, unarmed strike, halberd, longsword, scimitar, trident, pike, Great sword, (katana); (Perfect clarity of psyche and body); Perception.
Perfect clarity of psyche and body give you three tactical features
Gem mind: You can challenge an enemy as a free action to a duel of wills you both make of your chose of intelligence or wisdom role a d20 and if your result is higher +4 to grapples, shoves, trips and saves against them till your next turn.
Coiled strike: To use this feature you must take the doge action on your turn on your next turn an move no more then 5 feet on your next your you get +2 Ac and +30 ft of move speed till the end of the turn.
Overwhelming resolve: You crush your enemies will fight after hitting them you can as a free action make a intimidation check (only once per turn on any enemy) if you succeed they get disadvantage on all attack roles for 1 round.
Iron Heart: Great sword, Great axe, dwarven waraxe, hand-axe, War Scythe, lance, shield, 7 branched sword, longsword, Warhammer, maul, heavy crossbow, halberd, spear, sword whip, two-bladed sword; (Shield mastery); Investigation.
Stone Dragon: Great sword, great axe, Warhammer, halberd, long sword, dwarven waraxe, club, Great club, pike, 7 branched sword, Glaive, Kama, unarmed strike;(stone skin); Constitution.
Tiger Claw: Kama, Rapier, kukri, handaxe, 7 branched sword, Dagger, short sword, claw, greataxe, Scimitar, battle scythe, longsword, katana, spiked chain, dwarven war axe, Rapier, unarmed strike;(Exotic weapons proficiency/(crit on 19 when using two weapons for Warblades); Athletics.
White Raven: Longsword, Scimitar, shield, trident, battle scythe, longbow, heavy crossbow, battleaxes, Warhammer, greatsword, halberd, lance, unarmed strike;(Psi Shouts) Intimidation
So have I over complicated thing have I gone too far ?
The blade focus was supposed to be a feat that you took after you took another feat that gave you two maneuvers that aren't stances +1 to any ability score or a feat that gave you a stance and a maneuver +1 to any ability score. The maneuvers all get a blade focus to make taking the feat really good at level 12 or 8. You also get it three times as a class feature as a Swordsage and twice as a Warblade. It dose not give you an ability score improvement but I don't know If the three tactical options are two over the top. Because Wizards has yet to showcase any new feat chains like they talked about in their last major Q&A. Setting sun only allows you to make a number of opportunity attacks equal to 1 plus your wisdom bonus. Is that going to far?
The other major is the scaling the stance are separated in to 4 groups 1, 3,5-6, 7-8, so unlike can trips I was just going to give 3 bonuses plus a blade focus to level 1 maneuvers and reduce the number by one till a level 7or 8 that will just have a blade focus of is that to overpower. Is my 5th level maneuver that you can't get till level 12 because you can't take the feat that would give you this maneuver till level to good?
I should also clarify if you never seen tome of battle that these maneuvers can only be use by marshal and half casters, I'm still working out witch class should get access to each of the 9 discipline, and I would like some advice their to.
example of a strike
Stone Dragon level 1 Strike
Agate Bones
When you use this maneuver, you make a single melee attack. If this attack hits, you gain damage reduction 5 till the start or your next turn.
Blade focus: You get plus 10 if you hit and plus 5 if you miss. Effect lasts till the end of your following turn.
Example of a special maneuver that is not a strike, counter, or stance.
SHADOW JAUNT
Shadow Hand [Teleportation] Level: 2 Shadow hand Initiation Action: 1 move action Range: 60 ft. Target: You
A cloud of shadow energy engulfs you, spins into a tiny mote, and disappears. A moment later, this shadowy cloud appears across the battlefield and expels you from it.
As part of this maneuver, you disappear in a cloud of darkness and teleport up to 60 feet away. Leaving an illusionary double in your place and another within 120ft of you. You must have line of sight and line of effect to your destination. If you attempt to use this maneuver to move into an occupied space, you do not move, and the maneuver is expended but has the effect of creating the illusions. One per turn as a free action you can swop places with one of the illusions and each illusion can move after your turn with a move speed equal to yours to anywhere within 120ft of you these illusions can last up to one minuet but can be dispelled with a perception check of 18 or higher than they will vanish, or an illusion will vanish if hit by an attack the ac is equal to yours. These illusions can only take the help action or disengage action when they move.
Blade focus: The perception check is increased by 2 and when dispelled by an attack they deal 2d8 damage of your choice in 10ft area dex save fore half damage.
As you can see strike and counters will just get a small upgrade with the blade focus because they are replaced with better maneuvers of higher levels unlike stances that you will not be able to replace at higher levels. I hope to get some good feed back and I may even show my 208 updated maneuvers if all goes well.
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So I'm currently working on updating the swordsage from 3.5 to 5e I be leave this is with in all the rules of the forms.
For this I want to make sure that the maneuvers that I am updating will not be broken or over powered in 5e. Their are 208 maneuvers from 3.5 that I want to bring to 5e. The maneuvers are separated into 9 disciplines Desert Wind, Devoted Spirit, Dimond Mind, Iron Heart, Setting Sun, Stone Dragon, Shadow Hand, Tigar Claw, and White Raven. I need help knowing if I went to far what should be taken out or scaled down. Some feed back would be most help full.
My first change is to make stances work more like can trips. They still have their level restrictions but this way your level 1 stances will not feel useless at the end of the campaign.
level 1 Dimond mind stance
The Clarity stance
In this stance, you choose a single opponent as your target at the start of your turn. You gain a +2 to AC from attacks of that opponents you take a –2 penalty to AC against all other opponents while using stance. Your attacks loos and cannot gain disadvantage vs the target (even if they become invisible) and you may select a new target as a free action if the selected target died.
At level 5: +4 Ac and -1 Ac
At level 10: +6 Ac and-1 Ac you can add this bonus to all sell saves and supernatural abilities of the target.
At level 14: +6 Ac and +6 to hit on first attack.
Blade focus: You can target a number of other creatures equal to your proficiency when you take this stance and your crit hit is reduces by your the Ac bonus that is added to your Ac.(At level 14 you would crit on a, 20-15) If you can only crit a number of times equal to twice your proficiency then you loos this stance until you activate it again.
Desert Wind Stance: 5 level
Firey Bombardment
While you are in this stance every attack you make deals 1d8 points of fire damage +1d4 radiant damage, if an opponent is hit with a melee attack or a desert wind maneuver while you are in this stance it will ignite add take 1d10 fire or radiant damage till the flames are put out using an action. At level 15 your attacks deal an additional 2d8 fire or radiant damage or 1d8 fire/1d8 radiant. You now have resistance to fire and radiant damage while in this stance.
Blade Focus: Your fire and radiant damager ignore resistance and deal half damage to enemies that would be immune. Range attacks can now set enemies on fire and you can make special melee attack at a rang of 15ft replacing your bludgeoning, piercing, of slashing damage with force. (example: punch now deals 1/4 force +1d8 fire+1d4 radiant.)
To activate a stance you must give up 5 feet of movement and be able to move on your turn you maintain that stance until you choose to take another stance or you fall prone or the dm forces you to make a dex or con save to see if you maintain your stave after being pushed back ect...
The second change to the maneuver system I plan to change is blade focus. Each of the 46 stances are separated into 9 disciplines and if you take the feat you also unlock all of the blade focus features for the maneuvers as shown above.
discipline focus: At 5th level, you gain the benefit of the Weapon Focus feat for weapons associated with the chosen discipline. The save DCs of any maneuvers that you perform from the chosen discipline are increased by 1, if they have a save DC and again the special combat feature. See the discipline descriptions below.
Insightful Strikes: you can add your 1 + Wisdom or Intelligence modifier as a bonus on damage rolls whenever you execute a strike from the chosen discipline and 1+ half as a standard attack as long as you use a preferred weapon of your chosen discipline.
Defensive Stance: you gain a +2 bonus on saving throws whenever you adopt a stance from the chosen discipline. You gain a +2 bonus on skill checks and saves made regarding a maneuver in a discipline in which you have discipline focus, plus the added ability feature.
The weapons and skills associated with each discipline are given below.
Desert Wind: Scimitar, club, light pick, glaive, Flail, war pick, whip, spear, blade fan, 7 branched sword, three section staff, quarterstaff, Kama, sickle, short sword, unarmed strike, falchion; (Scorching Sirocco); Acrobatics.
Devoted Spirit: unarmed strike, 7 branched sword, shield, Falchion, Flail, morning star, Javelin, Warhammer, quarterstaff, maul*, lance, Warhammer, longsword; (Augment healing); Persuasion.
Diamond Mind: Rapier, Dagger, whip, spear, Scimitar, long bow, unarmed strike, halberd, longsword, scimitar, trident, pike, Great sword, (katana); (Perfect clarity of psyche and body); Perception.
Perfect clarity of psyche and body give you three tactical features
Iron Heart: Great sword, Great axe, dwarven waraxe, hand-axe, War Scythe, lance, shield, 7 branched sword, longsword, Warhammer, maul, heavy crossbow, halberd, spear, sword whip, two-bladed sword; (Shield mastery); Investigation.
Setting Sun: Short sword, battle scythe, Scimitar, Spear, light hammer, Nunchaku, whip, 7 branched sword, unarmed strike, blade fan, Fail, boomerang, spiked chain, sling, morning star, quarterstaff; (combat reflexes); Survival.
Shadow Hand: Dagger, sai, Siangham, Rapier, sickle, katana, short sword, spiked chain, battle scythe, kukri, spiked chain, blow gun, unarmed strike, light hammer, light crossbow;(Trap Sensitivity); Hide.
Stone Dragon: Great sword, great axe, Warhammer, halberd, long sword, dwarven waraxe, club, Great club, pike, 7 branched sword, Glaive, Kama, unarmed strike;(stone skin); Constitution.
Tiger Claw: Kama, Rapier, kukri, handaxe, 7 branched sword, Dagger, short sword, claw, greataxe, Scimitar, battle scythe, longsword, katana, spiked chain, dwarven war axe, Rapier, unarmed strike;(Exotic weapons proficiency/(crit on 19 when using two weapons for Warblades); Athletics.
White Raven: Longsword, Scimitar, shield, trident, battle scythe, longbow, heavy crossbow, battleaxes, Warhammer, greatsword, halberd, lance, unarmed strike;(Psi Shouts) Intimidation
So have I over complicated thing have I gone too far ?
The blade focus was supposed to be a feat that you took after you took another feat that gave you two maneuvers that aren't stances +1 to any ability score or a feat that gave you a stance and a maneuver +1 to any ability score. The maneuvers all get a blade focus to make taking the feat really good at level 12 or 8. You also get it three times as a class feature as a Swordsage and twice as a Warblade. It dose not give you an ability score improvement but I don't know If the three tactical options are two over the top. Because Wizards has yet to showcase any new feat chains like they talked about in their last major Q&A. Setting sun only allows you to make a number of opportunity attacks equal to 1 plus your wisdom bonus. Is that going to far?
The other major is the scaling the stance are separated in to 4 groups 1, 3,5-6, 7-8, so unlike can trips I was just going to give 3 bonuses plus a blade focus to level 1 maneuvers and reduce the number by one till a level 7or 8 that will just have a blade focus of is that to overpower. Is my 5th level maneuver that you can't get till level 12 because you can't take the feat that would give you this maneuver till level to good?
I should also clarify if you never seen tome of battle that these maneuvers can only be use by marshal and half casters, I'm still working out witch class should get access to each of the 9 discipline, and I would like some advice their to.
example of a strike
Stone Dragon level 1 Strike
Agate Bones
When you use this maneuver, you make a single melee attack. If this attack hits, you gain damage reduction 5 till the start or your next turn.
Blade focus: You get plus 10 if you hit and plus 5 if you miss. Effect lasts till the end of your following turn.
Example of a special maneuver that is not a strike, counter, or stance.
SHADOW JAUNT
Shadow Hand [Teleportation]
Level: 2 Shadow hand
Initiation Action: 1 move action
Range: 60 ft.
Target: You
A cloud of shadow energy engulfs you, spins into a tiny mote, and disappears. A moment later, this shadowy cloud appears across the battlefield and expels you from it.
As part of this maneuver, you disappear in a cloud of darkness and teleport up to 60 feet away. Leaving an illusionary double in your place and another within 120ft of you. You must have line of sight and line of effect to your destination. If you attempt to use this maneuver to move into an occupied space, you do not move, and the maneuver is expended but has the effect of creating the illusions. One per turn as a free action you can swop places with one of the illusions and each illusion can move after your turn with a move speed equal to yours to anywhere within 120ft of you these illusions can last up to one minuet but can be dispelled with a perception check of 18 or higher than they will vanish, or an illusion will vanish if hit by an attack the ac is equal to yours. These illusions can only take the help action or disengage action when they move.
Blade focus: The perception check is increased by 2 and when dispelled by an attack they deal 2d8 damage of your choice in 10ft area dex save fore half damage.
As you can see strike and counters will just get a small upgrade with the blade focus because they are replaced with better maneuvers of higher levels unlike stances that you will not be able to replace at higher levels. I hope to get some good feed back and I may even show my 208 updated maneuvers if all goes well.