Dwarf Edition: 10e Fighter
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fighter (aka grunt) - just as magic is the heart of the D&D system, fighters are the heart of any party (or army). when the shit hits the fan, its the grunts that step forward into the breech and lay their lives on the line for everyone else. they do the most work, spill the most of their blood, and get a correspondingly big share of the glory. in older systems, this was the “first” class for most players, since they required the least amount of rule knowledge to play - as they are the least common denominator.
previously, their “balance” was based on the fact that they wore the heaviest armor, swung the biggest weapons and had the most hit points - three very big advantages. more recent games gave warriors a slew of feats and abilities to help them distinguish themselves from lesser “cookie-cutter” races (stand 20 orcs in a row and they all used the same weapon, wore the same armor and had the same hit points). the 4th abortion introduced “minions” so players could mow down 1 hit point targets and feel as cool as their movie counterparts, then tried to counterbalance the ridiculousness of that by giving them all Improved Evasion - where if they save (or get missed by the primary attack) they avoid all damage (and thus dying). What monster in his right mind would charge someone if they know stepping on a thorn kills them ? “I bitchslap three monsters to the great beyond !” Uh-huh - you manly kennnigght you.
So without further ado, i give you the 10e fighter.
Whats the hardest thing to do as a front-line grunt ? Stay alive. At any given time, you’ve got a half-dozen enemies trying to stick a sword in your guts, enemy archers shooting arrows at you, wizards (from both sides) peppering you will fireballs and whatnot, and the whole time you’re hoping the party cleric can make his way to you before all your blood leaks down your armor. Yeah, why did you sign up for this again ?
Level Description 1st The first ability gained by a 10e fighter is Caster Attenuation. By wearing a Spellcasters Mark (a special enchanted sigil, rune or tattoo unique to each caster) you become immune to the area-effects of their spells (those which don’t target you directly). Now your party wizard can honk fireblasts at the Orc two inches from your face and you won’t even get scorched eyebrows. You can wear one Mark per experience level, so don’t be stingy about having family and friends put their mark on your armor! 2nd 2nd level sees the fighter learn strategy and battle tactics. this grants him and his companions a number of bonuses. any attack which targets a friendly within 1 square of you, or attack which you’re in line with (for party members in the back) has its difficulty raised by half your shield bonus (min 1). any attack made to a target which you’ve already struck this round gains a bonus to hit and damage equal to your strength modifier (not effective on solo or giant+ sized creatures, unless they target the same general spot you hit). you may make Attacks of opportunity on foes within 2 squares (10’) of you (representing your combat skill and larger-than-life presence and threat on the battlefield). 3rd At 3rd level, the fighter gains his first Energy Spirit. By undergoing a complex, week-long ritual of fasting and sensory deprivation, the warrior is able to call upon the spirit of a fallen foe or animal and bind it to his body. This grants him 50% damage reduction vs that energy type, AND opens up the advanced use of Caster Attenuation. Now, if he’s in the area of effect of a “friendly-fire” spell which matches his chosen Energy Spirit, the fighter is HEALED for whatever damage the spell would have done (ie a 30-pt fireblast thrown by his party’s wizard would heal the warrior (provided he had that caster’s Mark and had bound himself to Fire) would heal him for 30 HP when it activated. In addition, the fighter can now encapsulate either his weapon or armor in energy of that type, granting him damage bonuses (on a weapon) or a damaging aura (on armor) vs his opponents. 4th at 4th lvl, the fighter’s spirit (having absorbed bits of departing life energy of so many opponents) swells, granting him the ability to temporarily hold twice his “max” normal hit points. These are treated as bonus hitpoints, and fade away after 1 round/lvl of the warrior. the bonus HP may come from any source which he would normally regain HP from. 5th at 5th lvl, he learns how to duck and weave constantly, which provides him immunity to flanking attacks (they receive no bonuses when flanking). oddly, this also causes to become a magnet for fumbles - both his own and the rest of his party members. In determining where a fumble strikes, the chance for it striking the warrior is tripled, however he will only take half-damage from a friendly fumble which hits him. 6th at 6th lvl, the fighter gains his 2nd Energy Spirit. should he choose to Twicebind a different spirit of the same energy type as an earlier binding, his damage reduction is increased to 100% vs that energy type. 7th at 7th lvl, the fighter can cause one of his Energy Spirits to FLARE - burst outwards from him and affect everyone in a 20’ radius around him. This “burns out” the energy of that spirit for three rounds while it recuperates. There’s also an “advanced” use of this ability which few warriors know. Should a friendly caster (of whom you have a Mark) channel a blast-type spell of the appropriate energy type at you while you’re readying your Flare, the two energies harmonize and blast forth from you, doing the caster’s normal damage PLUS whatever damage you normally do when swinging your encapsulated weapon, to all targets affected. (if your fighter normally hits for 1d8+5 (str/magic weapon) + 2d8 Energy Spirit. so the abovementioned 30 point fireblast would hit for 30+1d8+5+2d8 or 35+3d8 to all in the original blast radius (and, if it matters, the 1d8+5 is kinetic/sword damage and not resistable :). Later on he’ll learn how to jury-rig and trigger his own Flareblast using his personal sigil Mark and various magic items (like necklace of missiles). Using the flare in this fashion doesn’t “burn out” the spirit, since it merely adds fuel to an already existing magic. 8th 8th lvl sees him gain the healing ability, catch your breath. he has learned to tap his inner strength, a reserve of energy which replenishes his already spent lifeforce. during a brief pause in combat, the fighter can non-magically heal half his max hitpoints once per battle. at 16th lvl he can use it twice per battle, and at 23rd lvl he can use it a number of times equal to his CON bonus. 9th at 9th lvl, the fighter gains his 3rd Energy Spirit. should he choose to Thricebind a different spirit of the same energy type as an earlier binding, he is healed from that energy whenever he is immersed in it, from whatever source. In addition, should it come from a friendly source (from whom he has a Mark) it also triggers Regeneration and Restoration effects on him. 10th at 10th lvl, the fighter can call one of his Energy Spirits OUT of his body to serve as a short-term elemental. It has hitpoints equal to the fighter’s current HP (at the time he called for it) and strikes twice per round at whatever level the fighter is. It may remain separated for a number of rounds equal to the warrior’s level. (ie a 10th lvl warrior calls forth one of his Fire Spirits, which has HP equal to him and strikes twice per round for 3d8 damage per hit). the spirit serves its host faithfully and is immune to attempts to charm or influence it away from its host. 11th at 11th lvl, better mastery of his body gives him the ability to trigger an Adrenaline Surge once per combat. this grants him a temporary bonus of +6 to str and con (with corresponding HP boost) and an extra action each round. the surge fades after 6 rounds, leaving him shaky but wide awake. 12th 13th at 13th lvl, the fighter becomes immune to provoking Attacks of Opportunity. His defensive skill is so adept that he may run past opponents without fear of reprisal. This does NOT allow him to move thru occupied squares, however - merely ignore hostile targets while he moves to his desired location. -
This is not a finished character class, but it is a playable class for the campaign.
I am not sure what/how anything will be changed at this time.
Choose to play it at your own risk.
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After talking to @dwarf about this more and rereading everything again, I will be tweaking things a bit.
Notably, the rate of spirit gain will be reduced, likely to 1 every 4 levels after 3rd level.
Also, the damage bonus for a spirit aura on weapon or armor will be tweaked a bit because of the ability to gain feats. Feats are not something that exist in a true 10e Dwarf Edition game. -
@daermadm
For Energy Spirit - encapsulate either his weapon or armor in energy of that type, granting him damage bonuses (on a weapon) or a damaging aura (on armor) vs his opponents.What is the damage die for the first tier? +1d6, or +1d8, etc…
An additional Energy Spirit for every four levels after 3. So 3, 7, 11, 15, 19. Up to 5 energy spirits, or does it level out to a limit of 3 or 4 total?
I can only assume at 7th level it would be 2d8, 11th 3d8, and so on. Do keep in mind multiple attacks and specialization bonuses.
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since i had almost 60 different energy types, no - there was no limit to total amount of energy spirits available to a player…
at 3rd level, your damage dice was a +1d4 - it increased as your level did… yeah, the original dox had it raise to +2d8 at 7th level, tho cloud might be tweaking (twerking) that too, due to fcheat inclusion in 3.5
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I am definitely changing energy spirit to every 4 levels, starting at 3rd. So it will be 3/7/11/15/19/23/27/etc. There is no upper bound.
We do need to define damage types though.
We have the 6 standard:
- Acid
- Cold
- Electric
- Fire
- Sonic
- Psychic
Additionally I think these should exist as their own types:
- Positive Energy
- Negative Energy
I waver on whether these are an energy type:
- Kinetic
- Force (magic missile)
So without the last two, there are 8 types. It wold take a fighter to level 31 to gain a spirit for each one. I think this is a decent balance and is actually a little generous compared to @dwarf’s original sheet of 60ish types and a fighter gaining them every 3 levels.
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So if i’m reading this write, a 13th level Rorek (10e variant fighter) would have 3 energy spirits, and would do roughly:
1d12 (base great weapon) + enchantment + str mod + spec. mods + misc feat bonuses + 3d8 (his chosen energy type)
1d12 - Base Great Axe
+3 - Axe enchantment
+5 - 20 Strength
+4 - Weapon specialization
+1 - misc feat bonus to damage
+3d8 (energy type - for 13th level)per hit.
(I know his +3 Great Axe was recently nuked, but not the point of the exercise… just making sure the #'s are right).
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@halfgiant said in Dwarf Edition: 10e Fighter:
So if i’m reading this write, a 13th level Rorek (10e variant fighter) would have 3 energy spirits, and would do roughly:
1d12 (base great weapon) + enchantment + str mod + spec. mods + misc feat bonuses + 3d8 (his chosen energy type)
1d12 - Base Great Axe
+3 - Axe enchantment
+5 - 20 Strength
+4 - Weapon specialization
+1 - misc feat bonus to damage
+3d8 (energy type - for 13th level)per hit.
(I know his +3 Great Axe was recently nuked, but not the point of the exercise… just making sure the #'s are right).
pretty close. I may revist the damage bonus from energy type, but it won’t be a huge change
I am working up a class feature block atm.
Tweaking the list a bit. so instead of named abilities every so often, they are all lumped under Battle Tactics. And each time you get it you improve.The original list was Battle Tactics, HP Capacitor, Hardflank,Flare, catch your breath (3 times), summon spirit, adrenaline surge, perfect deference.
Basically moving that into Battle Tactics I through Battle Tactics X (or however many)
Still working on this…
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I also do not think a 10e fighter will get bonus feats every other level like a core fighter. maybe every 3rd. still deciding.
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Is the 10e fighter going to follow the same # of attacks and BAB?
13th level would be +13 to hit (3 attacks base + 1 from specialization)
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@halfgiant said in Dwarf Edition: 10e Fighter:
Is the 10e fighter going to follow the same # of attacks and BAB?
13th level would be +13 to hit (3 attacks base + 1 from specialization)
Yes. I see no reason to change that part at this time.
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@dwarf here is what I came up with for the abilities based on your original document. I took all the granted abilities from level and lumped them under “battle tactics” You gain another tactic ever other level from 2nd on.
Tactical advantage must be taken first, but afterwards, you may acquire them in whatever order you want as that reflects how you are training. The only restriction is that subsequently numbers items have to be taken in order.
Twicebinding a spirit still grants 100% immunity, but you must take Spirit Healing II to get healed from a non-attenuated caster.
Spirit Healing III replaces Thricebinding a spirit.
Battle Tactics:
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Tactical Advantage - Any attack which targets a friendly within 1 square of you, or attack which you’re in line with (for party members in the back) has its difficulty raised by half your shield bonus (min 1). Any attack made to a target which you’ve already struck this round gains a bonus to hit and damage equal to your strength modifier (not effective on solo or giant+ sized creatures, unless they target the same general spot you hit).
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Awareness I - Great Reach - Your reach is inscreaded by one square from whatever it is normally, so the normal 5’ reach for medium sized humanoids becomes 10’ (representing your combat skill and larger-than-life presence and threat on the battlefield).
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Awareness II - Flanking Immunity & Fumble Magnet
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Awareness III - Immunity to Attacks of Opportunity (seems gimpy by itself. may combine with Awareness II)
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Spirit Healing I - Heal when hit by damage, from a marked caster, of the same type as a bound spirit
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Spirit Healing II - Heal when hit by damage, from any caster, of the same type as a Twicebound spirit
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Spirit Healing III - When hit by damage of the same type as a Twicebound spirit, gain regeneration and/or restoration. (needs clarification/definition)
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Adrenaline Surge I - HP Capacitor: Temporary double HP
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Adrenaline Surge II - Body Mastery: This grants him a temporary bonus of +6 to str and con (with corresponding HP boost) and an extra action each round. the surge fades after 6 rounds, leaving him shaky but wide awake.
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Spirit Flare I - The fighter can cause one of his Energy Spirits to flare, burst outwards, from him and affect everyone in a 20’ radius around him. This “burns out” the energy of that spirit for three rounds while it recuperates.
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Spirit Flare II - There’s also an “advanced” use of this ability which few warriors know. Should a friendly caster (of whom you have a Mark) channel a blast-type spell of the appropriate energy type at you while you’re readying your Flare, the two energies harmonize and blast forth from you, doing the caster’s normal damage PLUS whatever damage you normally do when swinging your encapsulated weapon, to all targets affected. (if your fighter normally hits for 1d8+5 (str/magic weapon) + 2d8 Energy Spirit. so the abovementioned 30 point fireblast would hit for 30+1d8+5+2d8 or 35+3d8 to all in the original blast radius (and, if it matters, the 1d8+5 is kinetic/sword damage and not resistable :).
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Spirit Flare III - Later on he’ll learn how to jury-rig and trigger his own Flareblast using his personal sigil Mark and various magic items (like necklace of missiles). Using the flare in this fashion doesn’t “burn out” the spirit, since it merely adds fuel to an already existing magic.
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Catch you Breath I
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Catch you Breath II
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Catch you Breath III
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This is where I am with the class ATM. I have not mathed out the damage mod yet. I think I may adjust the progression a little, but not certain.
Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Abilities Energy Spirit 1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Caster Attenuation I, Bonus Feat - 2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Battle Tactics I (Tactical Advantage) - 3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Caster Attenuation II, Energy Spirit I 1d4 4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Battle Tactics II, Bonus Feat 1d4 5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Caster Attenuation III 1d6 6 +6 +5 +2 +2 Battle Tactics III 2d6 7 +7 +5 +2 +2 Caster Attenuation IV, Energy Spirit II, Bonus Feat 2d8 8 +8 +6 +2 +2 Battle Tactics IV 2d8 9 +9 +6 +3 +3 Caster Attenuation V 3d8 10 +10 +7 +3 +3 Battle Tactics V, Bonus Feat 3d8 11 +11 +7 +3 +3 Caster Attenuation VI, Energy Spirit III 3d10 12 +12 +8 +4 +4 Battle Tactics VI 4d10 13 +13 +8 +4 +4 Caster Attenuation VII, Bonus Feat 4d10 14 +14 +9 +4 +4 Battle Tactics VII 4d10 15 +15 +9 +5 +5 Caster Attenuation VIII, Energy Spirit IV 5d10 16 +16 +10 +5 +5 Battle Tactics VIII 5d10 17 +17 +10 +5 +5 Caster Attenuation IX, Bonus Feat 5d10 18 +18 +11 +6 +6 Battle Tactics IX 6d12 19 +19 +11 +6 +6 Caster Attenuation X, Energy Spirit V 6d12 20 +20 +12 +6 +6 Battle Tactics X, Bonus Feat 6d12 21 +21 +12 +7 +7 Caster Attenuation XI 7d12 22 +22 +13 +7 +7 Battle Tactics XI 7d12 23 +23 +13 +7 +7 Caster Attenuation XII, Energy Spirit VI, Bonus Feat 7d12 24 +24 +14 +8 +8 Battle Tactics XII 8d12 25 +25 +14 +8 +8 Caster Attenuation XIII 8d12 26 +26 +15 +8 +8 Battle Tactics XIII, Bonus Feat 8d12 27 +27 +15 +9 +9 Caster Attenuation XIV, Energy Spirit VII 9d12 28 +28 +16 +9 +9 Battle Tactics XIV 9d12 29 +29 +16 +9 +9 Caster Attenuation XV, Bonus Feat 9d12 30 +30 +17 +10 +10 Battle Tactics XV 10d12 -
Nice Table, for some of the Battle Tactics is there a number of time a day i can use those powers? For example HP Capacitor is that a 3/day thing or always on.
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@halfgiant said in Dwarf Edition: 10e Fighter:
Nice Table, for some of the Battle Tactics is there a number of time a day i can use those powers? For example HP Capacitor is that a 3/day thing or always on.
Well HP Cap lasts a round per level. So it sounds like a once per combat thing. This is all from the base notes posted at the top.
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So way up in the thread for a level 7 - 10E fighter it says … " can cause one of his Energy Spirits to FLARE - burst outwards from him and affect everyone in a 20’ radius around him. This “burns out” the energy of that spirit for three rounds while it recuperates. There’s also an “advanced” use of this ability which few warriors know. Should a friendly caster (of whom you have a Mark) channel a blast-type spell of the appropriate energy type at you while you’re readying your Flare, the two energies harmonize and blast forth from you, doing the caster’s normal damage PLUS whatever damage you normally do when swinging your encapsulated weapon, to all targets affected. (if your fighter normally hits for 1d8+5 (str/magic weapon) + 2d8 Energy Spirit. so the above mentioned 30 point fireblast would hit for 30+1d8+5+2d8 or 35+3d8 to all in the original blast radius (and, if it matters, the 1d8+5 is kinetic/sword damage and not resistable :). Later on he’ll learn how to jury-rig and trigger his own Flareblast using his personal sigil Mark and various magic items (like necklace of missiles). Using the flare in this fashion doesn’t “burn out” the spirit, since it merely adds fuel to an already existing magic."
“swinging your encapsulated weapon” - does this include multiple attacks? the example just uses a single attack. I could read it either way, and i want to lean in the direction that favors Rorek most…but i thought i would ask.
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@halfgiant said in Dwarf Edition: 10e Fighter:
So way up in the thread for a level 7 - 10E fighter it says … " can cause one of his Energy Spirits to FLARE - burst outwards from him and affect everyone in a 20’ radius around him. This “burns out” the energy of that spirit for three rounds while it recuperates. There’s also an “advanced” use of this ability which few warriors know. Should a friendly caster (of whom you have a Mark) channel a blast-type spell of the appropriate energy type at you while you’re readying your Flare, the two energies harmonize and blast forth from you, doing the caster’s normal damage PLUS whatever damage you normally do when swinging your encapsulated weapon, to all targets affected. (if your fighter normally hits for 1d8+5 (str/magic weapon) + 2d8 Energy Spirit. so the above mentioned 30 point fireblast would hit for 30+1d8+5+2d8 or 35+3d8 to all in the original blast radius (and, if it matters, the 1d8+5 is kinetic/sword damage and not resistable :). Later on he’ll learn how to jury-rig and trigger his own Flareblast using his personal sigil Mark and various magic items (like necklace of missiles). Using the flare in this fashion doesn’t “burn out” the spirit, since it merely adds fuel to an already existing magic."
“swinging your encapsulated weapon” - does this include multiple attacks? the example just uses a single attack. I could read it either way, and i want to lean in the direction that favors Rorek most…but i thought i would ask.
That is a single attack because that is simply expending the caster magic that was wrapped on your weapon.
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Based upon the info in the original writeup its about binding the spirits of the fallen foe into the warriors body, i’ve been thinking about the Energy Spirit ability, and how to combine it with feats (possibly metamagic feats). The energy can be wrapped around a weapon or armor, but is the energy spirit considered a magical affect, something like a supernatural ability? Or is it considered a spell affect? Its magical in nature because anti-magic makes it disappear.
I don’t think it is as easy as imprinting a metamagic rune on Rorek’s Axe to use it with his energy spirit when he attacks or is it?
Thoughts?
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i personally consider it an simple Energy Effect - kinda like a campfire, and not magical at all. magic can, however, suppress or resist or abate it (obviously) - as wearing a ring of fire resistance allows one to walk thru said campfire, but the effect itself (in 10e) is simply energy. how the misty DM wants to run it in his 'verse is up to him
that being said, there ARE a few energy types in the big 10e list that are quite obviously magical in nature. Mana, Dragonfire, arguably Psionic and possibly Force would all be flavors of magic. in most cases tho, magic is merely the conduit which allows you to CHANNEL such energies and manipulate them into a form of your choosing.
in some TSR book somewhere, it talked about that being the logic behind reagents - the ball of guano and sulfur a wizard uses to call into existence a fireball serves as a kind of counterbalance or tradeoff to the elemental plane of fire. the ball of energetic material goes to the fire plane and a correlative amount of burning flames appears here.
so, in Cloud’s game - magic may be whats bringing you the energy in the first place, or letting you twist it around your weapon… which would be shut off inside antimagic
whats going to be interesting is to see how he plays it the first time you attack a natively antimagical sneakypants… -
So maybe a month or two ago, we were playing and it was mentioned the 10E Fighter had a offensive energy and a defensive energy. I’m seeking a couple of clarifications:
- How does the defensive energy work? Damaging Aura similar to Fire Shield?
- Are both the offensive energy and defensive energy active at the same time, or can you only have one running at a time? To use an example Rorek, has a void energy spirit for his Great Axe, so while he is cutting a path of body parts this offensive energy is active, can he also have an active Defensive Energy/Aura at the same time?
- Can the offensive energy be a different energy from the defensive energy? Assuming you have more than one energy spirit?
