Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Neff 06-23-07, 07:42 PM	As part of the ongoing quest to improve the fighter, I reluctantly chose to submit my idea. This fighter revision makes use of the feat mastery mechanic from Iron Heroes. As part of the fighter's concept of being the master of combat, they should have exclusive access to these abilities. The ultimate goal of this revision is to make single-class fighters a viable option. The primary inspiration for this idea can from Aelyrinth's Fighter/Warblade comparison thread. Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Mastery Points Maximum Mastery Level 1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Bonus Feat 0 1 2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Bonus Feat 0 1 3 +3 +3 +1 +1 - 2 2 4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Bonus Feat 3 2 5 +5 +4 +1 +1 - 5 3 6 +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 Bonus Feat 6 3 7 +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 - 8 4 8 +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 Bonus Feat 9 4 9 +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 - 11 5 10 +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 Bonus Feat 12 5 11 +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +3 - 14 6 12 +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +4 Bonus Feat 15 6 13 +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +4 - 17 7 14 +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +4 Bonus Feat 18 7 15 +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +5 - 20 8 16 +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +5 Bonus Feat 21 8 17 +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +5 - 23 9 18 +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +6 Bonus Feat 24 9 19 +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +6 - 26 10 20 +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +6 Bonus Feat 27 10 The Hit Dice, proficiencies, and skill points remain the same, but Listen, Spot, and Tumble are added to the list of class skills. Feat Mastery: A fighter is able to expand his training to improve the use of his combat feats. A fighter is able to assign mastery points to a feat that he possesses, increasing the benefits of that feat or gaining additional abilities related to that feat. All feats that are eligible for feat mastery begin at mastery level 1 and can be increased to as high as level 10. As a fighter advances in level, he gains mastery points that he can assign to his feats to increase that feat’s level of mastery. For example, a fighter gains one mastery point at 3rd level, allowing him to increase a feat’s mastery level to 2. The highest level of mastery a fighter can have for a feat is noted on the table above. A fighter cannot assign mastery points to a feat that he does not possess. With dedicated practice, a fighter can retrain his abilities to suit the battle at hand. At 5th level and at every odd-numbered level thereafter, a fighter can reassign his mastery points with a single feat to other feats that he possesses. He can reassign these points all to a single feat, or spread them out among multiple feats. He is still limited by his normal maximum mastery level. If one or more of a feat’s mastery levels grants a bonus feat, a fighter must meet the prerequisites of that feat to receive its benefits. He can still increase his mastery level with such feats, even if he does not meet the prerequisites of feats that he would normally be granted. Feat Mastery Abilities Most of the abilities have been changed in some way (like removing the token pool mechanics which would just complicate things even more) or removed entirely (i.e. Manyshot). Blind-Fight Mastery Level 3: You gain the benefit of the Blind-Fight feat and any mastery abilities from this feat on ranged attacks against opponents up to 30 feet away. Mastery Level 4: You gain blindsense out to 5 feet. Mastery Level 6: Your melee attacks ignore the miss chance granted by anything less than total concealment. Mastery Level 8: When you make a successful melee attack against an opponent with concealment, the rest of your melee attacks for that round ignore that opponent’s miss chance from concealment. Mastery Level 10: The radius of your blindsense increases to 30 feet. Cleave Mastery Level 2: You gain a +2 bonus to your attack roll on Cleave attacks. Mastery Level 3: You gain Great Cleave as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 4: You gain a Cleave attack when you make a successful critical hit against an opponent. If you score a critical hit and drop your foe with the same attack, you gain only one Cleave attack. Mastery Level 5: You can make a 5-foot step between Cleave attacks. You are still limited to one such adjustment per round, so you cannot take this movement if you have already taken a 5-foot step that round. Mastery Level 6: Each time you make a Cleave attack, you gain a +2 bonus on the damage roll of your next Cleave attack. Mastery Level 7: When you gain a Cleave attack, all enemies adjacent to the opponent that you gained the Cleave attack from suffer a –1 penalty to AC until the end of your turn. Apply this penalty before you make your Cleave attack. Mastery Level 8: Each time you make a Cleave attack, you gain an additional +2 bonus on the damage roll of your next Cleave attack. Mastery Level 9: You gain a Cleave attack when you score a threat against an opponent. If you score a threat and drop your foe with the same attack, you gain only one Cleave attack. Mastery Level 10: You gain a Cleave attack when you deal 20 or more points of damage with a single melee attack. If you fulfill multiple criteria for gaining Cleave attacks with a single strike, you gain only one Cleave attack. Combat Expertise Mastery Level 2: When you make an attack or full attack action, you can take a penalty of up to –5 to your AC and add the same number to your melee attack rolls. This number may not exceed your base attack bonus. The changes to AC and attack rolls remain until the beginning of your next turn. Mastery Level 4: You gain Improved Combat Expertise as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 6: When an opponent misses a melee attack against you while you are using Combat Expertise, you can make an immediate attack of opportunity against him. Combat Reflexes Mastery Level 2: When you make an attack of opportunity, you can expend an additional attack of opportunity to gain a +2 bonus on your attack roll. You can expend any number of attacks of opportunity in this manner up to your normal allotment of attacks of opportunity per round. Mastery Level 3: Opponents provoke attacks of opportunity from you whenever they exit a square that you threaten, even if their movement does not normally provoke attacks of opportunity. Mastery Level 4: As a move action you can grant one of your attacks of opportunity to an ally within 30 feet. The ally must be able to see and hear you tell him to strike at the right moment. Mastery Level 5: Any square that you threaten is treated as difficult terrain for your opponents. Opponents can avoid being impeded by this effect, but they suffer a –4 penalty on Tumble checks to avoid provoking attacks of opportunity from you and a –4 penalty to AC against your attacks of opportunity. Mastery Level 6: When you provoke an attack of opportunity, you can expend one of your own attacks to gain a +8 dodge bonus to AC against the attack. This bonus applies to only one attack of opportunity at a time. You can spend multiple attacks against different attackers, but no more than one against a single attack. Mastery Level 8: If you make a successful attack of opportunity against an opponent, you reduce his speed by 10 for all movement types. This penalty lasts until the beginning of the opponent’s next turn. Mastery Level 10: When an opponent provokes an attack of opportunity from you, you can make a full attack against him in lieu of a single attack. Doing so expends all of your attacks of opportunity for that round. You cannot have made any other attacks of opportunity that round to use this ability. Dodge Mastery Level 2: The AC bonus granted by the Dodge feat increases to +2. Mastery Level 3: You gain the uncanny dodge ability. Mastery Level 4: You can select up to two opponents as the targets of your Dodge feat. The AC Bonus granted by this feat applies to all targets that you select. Mastery Level 5: You gain the improved uncanny dodge ability. Mastery Level 6: You can select up to three opponents as the targets of your Dodge feat. Mastery Level 7: You gain the evasion special ability as described in the Players Handbook. This ability functions only when you are unencumbered and are not wearing heavy armor. Far Shot Mastery Level 4: You suffer half the normal attack penalty for range when using a ranged weapon (i.e. –1 per range increment instead of –2). Mastery Level 6: You can deal sneak attack or other forms of precision-based damage on ranged attacks against targets up to 60 feet away. Mastery Level 8: You ignore penalties for range for the first range increment. Mastery Level 10: You ignore penalties for range for the first three range increments. Improved Bull Rush Mastery Level 3: When you attempt a bull rush, you can take a –4 penalty to your Strength check. If your bull rush succeeds, your target is knocked prone. Mastery Level 5: When you attempt a bull rush, you can make a single melee attack before resolving the bull rush. You can use the result of your Strength check or the total damage dealt from your melee attack on your bull rush attempt. Mastery Level 7: When you make a successful bull rush, your target must make a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 + half your level + Str modifier) or drop whatever items he is holding in the square that he lands in. Improved Critical Mastery Level 6: You gain Power Critical as a bonus feat for the select weapon type. Mastery Level 8: You triple your selected weapon’s threat range rather than double it. Mastery Level 10: You automatically confirm all threats made with the selected weapon type. Improved Disarm Mastery Level 4: When you attempt to disarm an opponent that is larger than you, he counts as one size category smaller. Mastery Level 8: When you successfully disarm an opponent, you can fling his away to a square up to 10 feet away from you. If you have a free hand, you can choose instead to wield your opponent’s weapon against him. Improved Feint Mastery Level 4: You can confer the benefits of a successful feint to an ally of your choice. This ally must also threaten the target of your feint. This benefit lasts until the beginning of your next turn, or the end of your ally’s next turn, whichever comes first. Mastery Level 8: You can attempt to feint an opponent as a swift action. Improved Grapple Mastery Level 3: You gain an additional +2 bonus on grapple checks. Mastery Level 4: You gain the improved grab ability (see Monster Manual). Mastery Level 5: You gain an additional +2 bonus on grapple checks. Improved Overrun Mastery Level 5: When you knock an opponent prone with your overrun attempt, you can make an immediate attack of opportunity against him. Mastery Level 7: You crush your enemies underneath your feet. If you knock an opponent prone with an overrun attempt, you automatically deal damage according to your size. You add your Strength modifier to the damage dealt. The damage dealt is 1d2 for tiny, 1d3 for small, 1d4 for medium, 1d6 for large, 1d8 for huge, 2d6 for gargantuan, and 3d6 for colossal. Improved Sunder Mastery Level 5: You can damage an opponent’s armor by bashing plates and damaging joints. Make a sunder attempt as normal. If you cause 10 points of damage to your opponent’s armor (accounting for hardness), the armor suffers a –1 reduction to its AC bonus. You can incur multiple penalties with multiple sunder attempts. Mastery Level 7: Your opponent receives no bonus to resist your sunder attempts from wielding a weapon larger than yours. Mastery Level 9: You gain double your Strength bonus on damage rolls when you make a sunder attack (or triple if using a two-handed weapon). Improved Trip Mastery Level 2: You gain an additional +2 bonus on trip attempts. Mastery Level 6: When you trip an opponent, he must make a successful Reflex save (DC 10 + your size modifier). If he fails, he falls into a square of your choice that is adjacent to his original position. Mastery Level 8: When you trip an opponent, he must make a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 + half your level + Str or Dex modifier) or be stunned for one round. Mobility Mastery Level 2: At the beginning of your turn, select one opponent. The AC bonus granted by this feat increases from +4 to +6 against attacks of opportunity made by that opponent. Mastery Level 3: You gain Spring Attack as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 4: If you provoke an attack of opportunity from moving and the attack misses, you gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC against any subsequent attacks of opportunity that you provoke for moving through that square. Mastery Level 6: When you charge an opponent, you can make your attack at any point along your movement, and you do not have to charge in a straight line. You may continue your movement after you make your attack. Mastery Level 8: If you provoke an attack of opportunity from moving and the attack misses, you can make a trip attack against the attacker as an attack of opportunity. If your attack fails and the target trips you in return, your movement ends in your current square. Mounted Archery Mastery Level 2: You gain Improved Mounted Archery as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 4: You can make a full attack with a ranged weapon while mounted while simultaneously completing a move action to control your mount. Mastery Level 6: When you make a full attack with a ranged weapon while mounted, you can make your attacks at any point during your mount’s movement. Mastery Level 8: You gain a +2 bonus on ranged attack rolls while mounted when your mount makes a double move, and a +4 bonus when your mount runs. Any penalties normally incurred for attacking in such a way are still applied. Mounted Combat Mastery Level 2: You gain Trample as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 3: You gain Ride-By Attack as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 4: You gain Spirited Charge as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 5: You and your mount gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC when your mount makes a double move, and a +4 dodge bonus when your mount runs. Point Blank Shot Mastery Level 3: You add your Dexterity bonus instead of your Strength modifier to all damage rolls when making ranged attacks against opponents up to 30 feet away. Mastery Level 4: When using a ranged weapon, you threaten squares out to your normal reach. Mastery Level 5: You do not provoke attacks of opportunity for attacking with a ranged weapon. Power Attack Mastery Level 2: If you accept a minimum –3 penalty to your attacks from the Power Attack feat, any opponent you hit must make a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 + half your level + Str modifier) or suffer a –1 penalty to attack rolls for one round. You can only use this ability once per round against any one foe. Mastery Level 3: If you accept a minimum –5 penalty from the Power Attack feat, any opponent you hit must make a successful Reflex save (DC 10 + half your level + Str modifier) or be knocked prone. You can only use this ability once per round against any one foe. Mastery Level 4: You deal +50% of the normal damage you deal from your use of the Power Attack feat. Mastery Level 5: If you accept a minimum –9 penalty from the Power Attack feat, any opponent you hit must make a successful Will save (DC 10 + half your level + Str modifier) or be dazed for one round. You can only use this ability once per round against any one foe. Mastery Level 6: If you accept a minimum –11 penalty from the Power Attack feat, any opponent you hit must make a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 + half your level + Str modifier) or be stunned for one round. You can only use this ability once per round against any one foe. Mastery Level 7: When you miss a melee attack when using the Power Attack feat, compare the result of your roll against the AC of a randomly chosen creature (friendly or otherwise) within reach. If your attack roll meets or exceeds that creature’s AC, he is hit by the attack instead. You must choose to use this ability before making your attack roll. You can use this ability once per round. Mastery Level 8: Once per round as a free action, you can adjust the penalty you take from the Power Attack feat, increasing or decreasing it by up to 3. The maximum penalty you can take is still limited by your base attack bonus. Mastery Level 9: If you accept a minimum –15 penalty from the Power Attack feat, any opponent you hit must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or immediately die. You can only use this ability once per round against any one foe. Mastery Level 10: When you use the level 9 mastery ability from this feat, your target must make a Fortitude save with a DC of 10 + half your level + Str modifier instead of the normal DC 15 save. Note: You cannot use the level 2, 3, 5, 6, or 9 mastery abilities from this feat at the same time. You can use only one on any given attack. Precise Shot Mastery Level 3: You deal 1d6 points of sneak attack damage on ranged attacks against targets up to 30 feet away. This damage stacks with existing sneak attack damage, but does not qualify you for feats, prestige classes, or other benefits and abilities that have the sneak attack ability as a prerequisite. Mastery Level 4: When attacking with a ranged weapon, increase its critical multiplier by 1. Mastery Level 5: Your sneak attack damage with ranged weapons increases by 1d6. Mastery Level 6: You gain Improved Precise Shot as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 7: Your sneak attack damage with ranged weapons increases by 1d6. Shot on the Run Mastery Level 6: If you make a ranged attack from hiding and then move, you can attempt another Hide check at an additional –5 penalty. Mastery Level 10: You can move up to half your land speed and make a full attack with a ranged weapon. Stunning Fist Mastery Level 6: When you make a Stunning Fist attack or use an ability based on the feat, you can expend an additional stunning attempt to increase the save DC of the attack by 1. You can expend any number of stunning attempts in this manner. Mastery Level 8: If the target of your stunning attempt succeeds on his saving throw, he suffers a –2 penalty to AC and on attack rolls until the end of his next turn. Two-Weapon Fighting Mastery Level 2: You gain Two-Weapon Defense as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 3: You can sacrifice all of your off-hand attacks for the round to gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls with your primary weapon against a single opponent. This bonus lasts until the beginning of your next turn. Mastery Level 4: You gain Improved Two-Weapon Fighting as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 5: If you score a critical hit with one of your weapons, you increase the threat range of your other weapon by 1 until the end of your turn. Mastery Level 6: When fighting with two weapons or with a double weapon, you cannot be flanked. Mastery Level 7: You gain Greater Two-Weapon Fighting as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 8: You gain Two-Weapon Rend as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 9: You gain Two-Weapon Pounce as a bonus feat. Mastery Level 10: When you make a full attack with two weapons or with a double weapon, you can drive your attack forward with successful attacks. For each attack that hits, you can a cumulative +1 bonus on the remaining attacks. This bonus lasts until the end of your turn. Weapon Finesse Mastery Level 3: You deal 1d6 points of sneak attack damage on melee attacks with finesse weapons. This damage stacks with existing sneak attack damage, but does not qualify you for feats, prestige classes, or other benefits and abilities that have the sneak attack ability as a prerequisite. Mastery Level 4: You apply your Dexterity modifier on damage rolls with finesse weapons instead of your Strength modifier. Mastery Level 5: Your sneak attack damage with finesse weapons increases by 1d6. Mastery Level 6: If an opponent is wearing armor, the AC bonus granted by his armor is reduced by 1 against your melee attacks. Mastery Level 7: Your sneak attack damage with finesse weapons increases by 1d6. Mastery Level 8: Once per round, when you score a threat with a finesse weapon, you can choose to forgo rolling to confirm the critical to make an extra melee attack against that opponent at your highest base attack bonus. This attack is treated as an attack of opportunity. Mastery Level 9: Your sneak attack damage with finesse weapons increases by 1d6. Mastery Level 10: Once per round, you can perfectly penetrate an opponent’s defense, making him flat-footed against a single melee attack that you make with a finesse weapon. Weapon Focus Mastery Level 3: You gain Weapon Specialization with the selected weapon. Mastery Level 5: You gain Greater Weapon Focus with the selected weapon. Mastery Level 7: You gain Greater Weapon Specialization with the selected weapon. Whirlwind Attack Mastery Level 5: If you miss an attack when using this feat, you gain a +1 bonus on your remaining attack rolls. This bonus can be gained multiple times for multiple missed attacks. This bonus lasts until you have resolved all attacks from using this feat. Mastery Level 10: When you use the Whirlwind Attack feat, you can make a full attack against each opponent within reach instead of a single attack. New Feat: Extra Mastery Points [general] Prerequisite: Fighter level 6th Benefit: You gain two extra mastery points that you can use to gain additional mastery levels with your feats. This is a work in progress, and I'm not entirely sure all of these abilities are balanced. If you think any of them are too powerful, not powerful enough, or poorly worded, or just have random questions, please make yourself heard. And if for some reason I'm not legally allowed to post these (copyrights and the OGL and all that), please let me known as soon as possible.
Dusk Argent 06-23-07, 10:55 PM	Pretty interesting concept. You've obviously put a lot of thought and work into it. I can't say whether it is over/underpowered or not, but I'm very curious as to other poster's comments.
LoneFlame 06-23-07, 11:10 PM	Well, the fighter is kinda weak... This would definitely have to be test played to see whether or not it's broken
Melodramatic_person 06-24-07, 01:36 AM	maby you should add bonus points from high int or someting. this may also give the fighter more options high str and brake heads or high whatever and more points. note: i recommend that the bonus points will be gained evry level like int bonus on skill points from
Neff 06-24-07, 02:18 PM	maby you should add bonus points from high int or someting. this may also give the fighter more options high str and brake heads or high whatever and more points. note: i recommend that the bonus points will be gained evry level like int bonus on skill points from Something I forgot to add to my original post: a feat that grants extra mastery points. Thanks for reminding me. As for your idea, it's not bad. Giving them mastery points based on Intelligence won't be too unbalancing, since Intelligence is not usually high on the fighter's list of priorities. I'll have to think about that.