All right, we've gotten through the original Fighter subclasses, all three of which are decent at worst (at least in terms of power - I think more experienced players will generally avoid the Champion just because there's so little interactivity). Now, we move on to the next four - the Purple Dragon Knight (or Banneret) from SCAG and the Arcane Archer, Cavalier, and Samurai from Xanathar's.
The Purple Dragon Knight is a setting-specific subclass. Normally I'd have something to say here, but the name doesn't really remind me much of its mechanics. Let's go through and get a stronger sense of what this does.
First off, there's a restriction (as there is for a fair number of Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide - I hope people recognized the acronym) which is that this subclass is tied to a specific knightly order in Cormyr within the Forgotten Realms. I generally like to ignore subclass race and background restrictions, as I think that while mechanics and story should tie together, a player character should be exceptional. You can be the one dwarf who learned Bladesinging, etc.
Moving on:
At 3 you get Rallying Cry. When you use Second Wind, you can choose up to three creatures within 60 feet that are allied to you (I feel like you could just say friendly creatures, but SCAG formatting was weird.) Each of those targets regains hit points equal to your Fighter level if they can see or hear you. Honestly, a once (and later more) per short rest group heal for a Fighter is not bad. That said, presumably an unconscious character can't hear or see you, so you'll need to use this proactively.
At 7, you get Royal Envoy. You gain proficiency in Persuasion (and if you have that already, you can choose from Animal Handling, Insight, Intimidation, or Performance instead.) Additionally, you get expertise in Persuasion, doubling your proficiency bonus when doing that sort of ability check. I do like that this gives a Fighter a very RP-focused bonus, though it'd be nice to get a combat bonus as well.
At 10, you get Inspiring Surge. When you use Action Surge, you can choose a creature within 60 feet, and that creature can make a melee or ranged weapon attack with its reaction. At level 18, this becomes two allies. This is cool, though I'm beginning to think you could get a lot of these features by just building a Battle Master with certain maneuvers.
At 15, you get Bulwark. When you use Indomitable (ah, yes, the three Fighter features) to reroll an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw and you aren't incapacitated, you can choose an ally within 60 feet that also failed its save against the same effect, and they can reroll as well. So, if you both get hit with an Ilithid's Mind Blast or something, you can give a friend your Indomitable - but only if you fail as well and use yours. Ok.
Finally, at level 18, you get an improvement to Inspiring Surge, allowing you to choose two allies instead of one.
Yeah... This is a pretty dull subclass. I'm not surprised I've never seen anyone play one.
Moving on!
The Arcane Archer is, I believe, one of the rare Fighter subclasses that really focuses on either a Dex or Strength build - most are designed to work for both. Naturally, this goes for the ranged, dex-based one. You get a number of magical shots with your arrow.
First off, you get Arcane Archer Lore at level 3. You learn either Prestidigitation or Druidcraft, and proficiency in either Arcana or Nature (you don't have to choose the two former options or two latter options together, but it'd be fitting.)
Next, you get the core of the subclass: Arcane Shot. Once per turn, when you fire an arrow from a shortbow or longbow as part of the attack action (crazy to me that it doesn't just say "ranged weapon," as this rules out Crossbows or firearms - something I'd probably allow as a DM) you can apply one of a number of Arcane Shot options if you hit with the attack (unless the option doesn't involve an attack roll). You have two uses of this, and regain them on a short or long rest. You learn two options to start with, and get additional options at 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level, and they all get better at level 18.
There are 8 options here, so you'll eventually learn almost all of them. Generally, they add 2d6 and later 4d6 damage to the hit and have some other effect (or one that does 1d6 / 2d6 but can hit multiple targets.)
At level 7, you first get Magic Arrow, which makes any arrows you fire magical - one would hope you'd have a magic bow by then, but if your DM is a stickler about the arrows having to be magical, and not just the bow, this is a great improvement (and great if your stuff gets taken away.)
You also get Curving Shot, which lets you use a bonus action to reroll an attack if you miss, but targeting a different target within 60 feet of the original target (the ultimate "I meant to do that!"). Getting to reroll an attack every turn is definitely not bad.
And you also get an additional Arcane Shot options.
At 10, you get a fourth Arcane Shot option.
At 15, you get Ever-Ready Shot. If you roll initiative and are out of Arcane Shots, you regain one use. You also get a fifth Arcane Shot Options.
And finally, at level 18, you get your sixth Arcane shot option.
Now... in theory I like this, but I do think there's some strong overlap with the Battle Master. And I think that, while the Arcane Shot options are very cool, the limit to only two per short rest is pretty punishing (while Battle Masters have 4 superiority dice at level 3). I think you could largely recreate the core appeal of this class with a Battle Master. Also, the Battle Master's maneuver DC is based on your choice of Strength or Dexterity, whereas the Arcane Archer's is Intelligence, which means it's likely lower, which is annoying.
Next, we have the Cavalier. Mounted combat is very cool and flavorful in theory, but it's rare you get to ride your steed in a dungeon. That said, as I recall, this subclass has a number of features that don't require you to be riding a mount, so let's take a look at it. I also think most people don't know all the rules for mounted combat, though someone picking this would be a strong incentive to do so.
At level 3, you get proficiency in Your choice of Animal Handling, History, Insight, Performance, Persuasion, or a language of your choice.
You also get Born to the Saddle. You have advantage on saving throws to avoid falling off your mount. If you fall off and descend no more than 10 feet, you can land on your feet if you're not incapacitated. Additionally, mounting up only costs 5 feet of movement, rather than half your speed as normal.
You also get Unwavering Mark. When you hit a creature, you can mark them until the end of your next turn, or until you're incapacitate or die, or if someone else marks the creature (for that Cavalier-heavy party.)
While the creature is within 5 feet of you, the creature has disadvantage on attacks against anyone other than you. Also, if they deal damage to anyone other than you, you can make a melee weapon attack against them as a bonus action on your next turn, which you do with advantage and, if you hit, the attack deals extra damage equal to half your fighter level. You can make this attack a number of times equal to your Strength modifier, regaining all uses on a long rest.
At level 7, you get Warding Maneuver. If you or a creature you can see within 5 feet of you (such as your mount) is hit by an attack, you can roll 1d8 as a reaction if you've got a melee weapon or shield in hand. Roll the die and add the number to the target's AC. If attack still hits, the target gets resistance to the damage of the attack. You can use this a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier per long rest. This is actually pretty great - being able to fully negate the attack is fantastic, but then getting a consolation prize of halving the damage is really great. This ability is never fully wasted, and can effectively cancel crits.
At 10, you get Hold the Line. If a creature provoke an opportunity attack from you, and if you hit, the target's speed is reduced to 0 (kind of a mini-Sentinel effect.) Given that fleeing enemies rarely have much HP left, this is a very nice finisher, though a bit underwhelming for a full level's feature.
At 15, you get Ferocious Charger. Whether mounted or not, if you move at least 10 feet in a straight line right before attacking a creature and you hit it with an attack, the target has to make a Strength save (DC based on your Strength) or be knocked prone. You can do this once per turn. This is... pretty good, but unless you have a way to charge back and then forward without drawing opportunity attacks yourself, this will rarely come into play more than once in a fight.
Finally, at 18, you get Vigilant Defender. You get a special reaction you can take on every creature's turn. You can use it to make opportunity attacks (but can't if you used your normal reaction on that turn.)
So, overall, this seems like a class that is all about mobility (makes sense) and opportunity attacks (slightly less so.) I think if you combined this with the mobile feat, it could actually be pretty strong. You just also want to have foes run from you often (actually polearm master probably pairs very well with it - as they will provoke an opportunity attack when entering your range, which you can then lock them down with while they're too far to attack you.)
Finally, for this post, we're going to look at the Samurai. Samurai obviously carry a specific cultural association, but how do they translate ability-wise? Let's take a look.
First off, you get proficiency in History, Insight, Performance, Persuasion, or a language of your choice.
At 3, you get Fighting Spirit. As a bonus action on your turn, you can give yourself advantage on attack rolls until the end of the current turn. When you do, you also gain 5 temporary hit points. This goes up to 10 at level 10 and 15 at level 15. You can do this 3 times per short rest. Nothing super flashy here, but a bit of extra survivability and on-demand advantage is nice.
At level 7, you get Elegant Courtier. You can add your Wisdom modifier to Charisma (Persuasion) checks. Additionally, you get proficiency in Wisdom saving throws, or if you already have that through multiclassing, you can get Intelligence or Charisma instead. The Persuasion thing is mostly just nice flavor - being the sophisticated, well-spoken warrior-poet. But Wisdom saves are often a Fighter's biggest liability, so this is pretty great.
At level 10, you get Tireless Spirit, regaining a use of Fighting Spirit if you start a fight without any uses remaining. Nothing flashy, but useful.
At 15, you get Rapid Strike. When you take the attack action on your turn and have advantage (which you can, of course, get through Fighting Spirit,) you can forgo the advantage and instead make an additional attack against the target as part of the same action - which you can do no more than once a turn. Given that advantage means rolling twice anyway, you should always use this when you can (because you might just hit twice!) As if Fighters didn't hit enough times per round!
Finally, at level 18, you get Strength Before Death. If you take damage that reduces you to 0 hit points but doesn't outright kill you, you can use your reaction to delay falling unconscious and immediately take an extra turn, interrupting the current turn. While you have 0 hit points during that extra turn, taking damage causes death saving throw failures, and three failures will still kill you. When the turn ends, you fall unconscious if you still have 0 hit points. You can do this once per long rest. This is actually a lot like the Zealot Barbarian's Rage Beyond Death. But a Fighter also has Second Wind, so this is a great opportunity to take the Disengage action and second wind to get the hell out of there. This is the kind of bonkers awesome ability you hope for with a subclass, especially at high levels, and leans into the Samurai-as-ultimate-badass trope.
I think of the Xanathar subclasses, I like the Samurai the best - not only is it useful for both ranged Dex and melee Strength builds (something neither the Cavalier nor Arcane Archer are,) but it has some really cool features that admittedly don't come until high level. The Arcane Archer, I should say, does have some very cool shot options, but having only two per short rest (even with a recharge) feels too limiting when you consider how much a Battle Master gets.
Next post, we'll finish up with Wildemount's Echo Knight, and Tasha's Psi Warrior, and Rune Knight.
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