Aramis wrote:Treebore wrote:Yeah, the Fighter is pathetic, as written. Granted, with my House Rules they are already a much better class, but even so, over all, they do not really outshine everyone else in combat. All they really get is an additional BtH of +2, and +1 to damage, initially, that goes up to +3 and +2 at level 6 or so. But nothing that is comparable to the Rangers enemy modifier, what the Paladin gets, or what the Knight can do.
Maybe I could give them something like "Master of Damage", allowing a fighter to add 1/2 their level to all damage rolls, in order to more frequently max out damage rolls, but not exceed the dice value. Much like how I allow clerics to add their level to healing spells, but not go above the max value of the dice. That would certainly make them more dangerous on the battle field. Hmmmm... Yeah, I am going to have to play test this idea.
Well, the vanilla fighter may seem a bit weaker at high levels, but remember, we have Treeborean fighters
. That extra attack per round makes them much tougher than vanilla C&C fighters. We don't want to get ahead of the module in terms of oomph.
Rangers and Paladins seem more powerful but they are also more specialised (and they pay more in XPs for those abilities). The ranger generally only dominates humanoids and the like, and the Paladin is much more effective against evil critters than animals etc.
But as to your original question, I liked what I read of the Dungeon Crawl Classics fighter who gets to do special actions regularly. Things like disarms and so forth. That kind of thing makes the fighter more tactical, and thus more interesting. But I feared (and some users have reported) that that system gets a bit bogged down with everyone stunting on everyone else every round
. Alas, adding flavour seems to always slow the game down. Maybe have the stunt occur only when the fighter beats AC+HD. Something like that.
Either way, we have already defeated those nefarious slavers in that fight in the harbourmaster's house right? Now it is time to divide the loot and head off to the Barrier Peaks
They only get an extra attack if they succeed on a SIEGE check, and every single class can attempt it, as well as earn a extra attack permanently. The only thing about it is with their BtH, and specialization being allowed, they succeed much more often, and earn the attack faster. Plus my house rule for them when facing 3 or more opponents is pretty impressive. Especially if the player gets some good rolls going. Just ask Rigon and Rhuvein when they saw it at work at the Troll Con we all attended.
Still, the Fighter needs more, so if they need to earn more XP to get it, then that is fine too.
I agree Rangers and Paladins are more "specialized", but only 2 factors differ between a fighter and a Paladin. 1) the extra BtH a fighter gets. 2) Specialization. So all a fighter really gets over a Paladin is a grand +3 to hit and +2 to damage, once they reach 7th level.
After that the Paladin gets a +2 to AC and all saves versus "evil" creatures. Then the immunities, healing etc...
So maybe that has been the fighters problem all along, they have always been too simple, too basic.
So if I do add more to the fighter, it won't get bogged down any more than the other classes already do. Plus if people went nuts about doing SIEGE checks for everything they can do under my house rules, my game can already get bogged down. Since everyone does as I asked and only do that when the fights get tough, it hasn't been a problem, at least not that I have noticed.
Anyways, I just think its time to put some thought into making the Fighter more than he has always been.
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael
Grand Knight Commander of the Society.
Nice summary!
Any info you can give me? If not should I make a new character or just "redo" Abner?
yawning . . . "who me?"