5.5 Ideas: Fighters

 5.5 is about three years off, but its eventuality is an opportunity to talk about the kinds of changes I'd like to see moving forward with D&D.

We can probably safely assume that the existing PHB classes will be reprinted in the new PHB (though I'm hoping the Artificer sees print there as well.) The Fighter is a staple of the game, and has existed in one form or another since the beginning (I believe it was originally a "Fighting Man" or something - never understood why they didn't just call it a Warrior, but oh well.)

While a powerful class, I think the Fighter in 5th Edition is a bit lacking. Ultimately, your sublcass gives you the far more interesting features than the class itself.

If you set aside subclass features, the fighter really only gets three unique features - Second Wind, Action Surge, and Indomitable. Action Surge and Indomitable get improved as you level up, allowing you to use them more frequently. Meanwhile, the only other features you get with the class are Fighting Style (which Paladins and Rangers also get - albeit with fewer options,) Extra Attack (which you get more of than any other class, but not until level 11) and Ability Score Improvement (of which you get two extra compared to most classes.)

Now, Fighters also get subclass features at five different levels, which is the most of any class (I think Clerics do as well). Subclasses vary greatly in terms of the things they provide.

Philosophically, we might decide that it's fine that the base fighter is fine as it is - a bare scaffold on which to hang a more interesting subclass. But let's say we disagree.

WotC has made it pretty clear that they're very happy with the Battlemaster, one of the three subclasses from the PHB, and they've added new maneuvers to use with it, along with feats that allow other classes (or non-Battlemaster Fighters) to get a lesser version of the subclass' defining feature.

To me, the obvious thing would be to redesign the Fighter so that they all get Maneuvers fueled by superiority dice.

In order to balance this out, you might need to nerf or even remove things like Indomitable or Action Surge. The former I wouldn't terribly mind, but I do think that the latter would probably cause an outcry - Action Surge is just cool, while, in my experience, Indomitable is just a fancy way to fail the saving throw a second time.

So I'd say keeping Action Surge (maybe nerfing it to only ever being a once-a-rest ability to make room) would be the right call.

But I think that giving all Fighters a choice of maneuvers in the early levels - maybe 2 (and perhaps holding Action Surge for a later level) would be really cool. The whole concept of a Fighter is that they're a disciplined and skilled warrior, and I think maneuvers really reflect that concept well.

Now, there is an argument to be made that Fighters' simplicity should be preserved. For example, for a brand new player that wants a very simple class to play, I always recommend the Champion Fighter as the absolute simplest class/subclass, and adding maneuvers to the class would mean that everyone is at least operating on a Battlemaster level of complexity.

Still, I think it could energize the Fighter. On top of that, if this were a base feature, you would have another thing for subclasses to interact with - maybe a redesigned Eldritch Knight can produce various magical effects when they use a maneuver. Or you could redesign the Arcane Archer to use maneuvers rather than a separate-but-very-similar feature with its Arcane Shots.

Overall, I think this would give the Fighter a clearer mechanical identity.

Now, what would happen to the Battlemaster? It might mean just eliminating it as a subclass - as it would basically have become the class class. In general, I think that the PHB should have at least three subclasses per class, so what ought to replace it? The Arcane Archer, if it were redesigned to use maneuvers, might be a possibility, as I think making it clear that Fighters can be ranged and use ranged weapons would be good. On the other hand, it might be a little too similar to the Eldritch Knight.

I actually like the idea of a battlefield-commander subclass. Currently, the Purple Dragon Knight (aka Banneret) technically fills that role, though the mechanical design is... utter crap. So I'd just make a new subclass (maybe call it a Commander) that perhaps places an emphasis on using maneuvers to aid allies - maybe have a way to let your allies use your maneuvers.

Now, getting into subclasses - among the PHB ones, I've basically eliminated one of the three already. The Champion I think should remain simple and easy, and doesn't need huge changes.

So let's talk Eldritch Knights.

My EK is the character I've played longer than any other class or subclass. It's very cool, but I think there are a few things that could be improved.

First off, I wonder if it would be possible to make it (and the Arcane Trickster Rogue) into half-casters like Paladins, Artificers, and Rangers. I think this would likely not be too powerful. Really, just having to get to level 7 to even get 2nd level spells is a huge burden.

I'd also add the following feature at level 3 when taking the subclass - "You can use a weapon or shield as a spellcasting focus for the spells granted by this subclass." Without this, EKs are more or less forced to take Warcaster (or drop their weapon every time they want to cast Shield or other spells) and I think this would just help you play the fantasy of being a battlemage.

I also kind of think it would be cool for the EK to have its own dedicated spell list, but maybe that's overkill.