Martial Archetype: Knight of the Fallen Oak | The trip spam fighter returns!
PDFs of this and more can be found over on at my Patreon here!
This was a patron request (hint hint, high tier patrons can just straight up ask me to make stuff) and I felt like it just so happened to fit this month's theme of inexorable, since this was inspired by 3e and pf1e trip builds where you make trip attacks and then keep making them as they try to get up because getting up provoked opportunity attacks back then in addition to eating up all your movement.
Tripping Hazard
With how 5e combat works, this wouldn't really be a feature if you tripped in place of an attack, sine you can do that anyway. Though it being a save is a difference. But this is how wolf bite attacks work, for instance. Why call out halberds specifically? Because tripping was their thing. In fact, they weren't even reach weapons or mechanically identical to glaives.
And Stay Down
This feature exists explicitly to replicate the old AoOs, and to lean in on a subclass that benefits on tripping
Opportunist
There exists a feat in pathfinder that gives you a number of reactions equal to your Dex mod, which is a bit much, as people noted the last time I gave a fighter this feature, but I felt like more opportunity attacks would benefit the previous feature.
Not So Fast!
Gave a bit of the sentinel feat, which is a popular feat for control builds especially when paired with the polearm master feat, which I also considered adding, but since the only reach weapon this specifically benefits is the halberd, having it be within 5 feet was less useful out of your turn.
Kick Them While They're Down
And because this subclass felt like being a dick, this one seemed appropriate to be mean.
And now to plug my stuff. I release homebrews weekly over on my Patreon.
Anyone who pledges $1 or more per post don't have to wait a month to see them, and also help fund my being alive habit.
At the moment, they have exclusive access to the following:
Words of Power
Maelstrom Hammer
Sealing Rituals
Otherworldly Patron: The Bound Demon
I also have three classes, and a splatbook over on DriveThrueRPG to check out:
The Rift Binder. A class specialising in summoning monsters and controlling the battlefield.
The Witch Knight. A class that combines swords and sorcery in the most literal way.
The Werebeast. A class that turns you into a half beast to destroy your foes.
d'Artagnan's Adventurer Almanac. A compendium of races, subclasses, feats, spells, monsters and more!
A fighter who combs the underbelly of the city for criminals. The goal of this archetype is to literally be Batman and I am not even ashamed to say it. Striking fear into enemies, smoke grenades, bolas, flurry of blows, good at being a detective, bonus damage to the guilty, it’s all here.
image credit: Greg Capullo
Unsung Hero: At 3rd level, the Vigilante has learned a repertoire of abilities for dealing with criminal scum single-handedly and from the shadows of back-alleys. The Vigilante gains 3 action points that replenish after completing a short rest. At level 10, your maximum action point reserve increases to 5. At level 15, it increases to 7. You can expend one or more action points to perform one of the following feats:
Fearful Presence (2 action points): As an action, your presence strikes fear into the hearts of criminals. Enemies that can see you within 30’ must make a WIS save or do nothing on their turn but run away from you until they can no longer see you or up to 1 minute. When they move more than 30’ away from you they may make another WIS save to resist the effect again. The saving throw DC is 8 + your proficiency + your CHA modifier.
Acrobatic Pursuit (1 action point): As a bonus action, you can gain +30’ movement and you are not affected by difficult terrain until your next turn.
Tumble (1 action point): As a reaction, you can reduce damage you are about to take from a fall by half.
Smoke Bomb (1 action point): as a bonus action, you can hurl a bead-sized smoke bomb up to 20’ away that creates a 5’x5’ cloud of obscuring smoke. No one outside the cloud can see in it, no one inside can see out of it, and it blocks line of sight offering half cover to those who cannot see one another. A strong wind will disperse the smoke, or else it dissipates after 1d6 rounds. You may use this ability as a reaction when someone attacks you if you spend an additional action point.
Furious Blows (2 action points): As a bonus action, you can make a single additional melee attack this round.
Bolas (1 action point): Using one of your attacks, you can make a ranged attack against a single target of large size or smaller within 40 ft. If the attack hits, the creature takes 1d4+STR bludgeoning damage, becomes restrained, and is knocked prone. The creature can attempt a STR or DEX saving throw against a DC of 12 to escape.
Smite the Guilty: Starting at 7th level, you gain the ability to deal extra damage to those who have recently committed a crime that you witnessed. If the criminal committed the crime no more than 3 days ago, you can use this ability to deal 2d8 + your CHA modifier bonus damage to them when you hit with an attack. Once you expend all uses of this ability they will recharge after a long rest. You gain an extra use of this ability at 15th level.
Detective: At 10th level, you gain Expertise in the Intimidation and Investigation skills. You double your proficiency bonus with those two skills.
Trace Object: At 18th level, the Vigilante can investigate the origins of an object they possess. They can spend 1 hour researching an object. After doing so, they learn information as if they had cast an Identify and Legend Lore spell on the object, as well as learning who the last owner of the object is and where they were last seen.
Anointed Warrior
A fighter that imbues their bodies with holy/unholy oils in service of a deity. Paladins and clerics might see the Anointed Warrior as an ally, but one who merely uses the gods as a means to an end rather than a prophet or justice-dealer. The Anointed Warrior carves their own path with their divine knowledge. This archetype is sort of an alignment-neutral version of the Anointed Knight and Warrior of Darkness.
image credit: Brom
Magic Oil: The Anointed Warrior uses holy/unholy arts to create a magic oil that they anoint themselves with. They make only one dose of such oil at levels 3, 7, 10, 15, and 18 and the oil works only for the Anointed Warrior. The Anointed Warrior can pick an ability from the table below when they anoint themselves with the oil. Each ability can be chosen only once and some have a prerequisite level before they can be chosen.
Knowledge of the Divine Arts: At 3rd level, the Anointed Warrior becomes proficient in Religion.
Blessed Weapon: At 7th level, the Anointed Warrior can anoint their weapon with alchemical oils with 3 rounds of preparation and 50 gp of material components. When they do so, the Anointed Warrior chooses an energy type. If the Warrior is good-aligned, they cannot choose Necrotic. If evil-aligned, they cannot choose Radiant. For 1 hour, their weapon deals +1d4 damage of the chosen energy type when it hits and deals +2d4 damage on a critical hit.
Resilience: At 10th level, through their magical oils and religious zeal, the Anointed Warrior's skin becomes resistant to harm. All physical damage dealt to the Anointed Warrior is reduced by 2.
Divine Mantle: At 15th level, the Anointed Warrior gains resistance to acid and poison damage.
Warding Patterns: At 18th level, through blessed tattoos covering the Anointed Warrior's body, all magic and energy damage dealt to them is reduced by 2.
Bastion
For the fighter that wants to be the immovable object. A mountain of armor and hit points that will never back down. The greatest tank to end all tanks.
image credit: Kyoung Hwan Kim
AC Bonus: At 3rd level, you gain a +1 bonus to your AC while wearing medium or heavy armor.
Defensive Stance: At 3rd level, you can take up a Defensive Stance as a bonus action. If you use any movement speed while in this stance or are forcibly moved more than 5’, the stance ends. The Defensive Stance lasts for up to 1 minute, and you gain 1 level of exhaustion after it ends. You gain advantage on all saving throws, +10 temporary HP, and +2 STR for the duration. In addition, any creatures making special attack actions (like Grapple or Shove) against you have disadvantage on their roll in the contest. You have a number of uses equal to your CON modifier. These uses replenish after you finish a long rest.
Danger Sense: At 7th level, you gain advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.
Mobile Defense: At 10th level, you can move up to 5’ each round while in your Defensive Stance without ending the stance.
Resilience: At 15th level, when you are subject to a critical hit or sneak attack, the attacker must reroll their attack roll. On a failure, the attack becomes a normal attack instead.
Damage Resistance: At 18th level, you gain resistance against bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
Commander
You are a master tactician. While many other fighters focus on their own physical prowess and strength, you can regularly best overwhelming odds with your cunning. Your strength is in your team. This subclass uses superiority dice like the Battle Master, but has stronger abilities so they start with one fewer die and replenish after a long rest (to start off). Instead of sizing up enemies, this subclass sizes up the battlefield and investigates choke points and environmental hazards easily from a distance.
image credit: Greg Opalinski
Maneuvers: At 3rd level, you gain 3 superiority dice which replenish after a long rest. You may use one of the following maneuvers by expending a superiority die. At 12th level, the superiority dice replenish after finishing a short rest as well as after a long rest.
Work Together!- You may expend a superiority die on your turn as a bonus action. If you do, choose two friendly creatures no more than 15 ft. apart from one another. Until your next turn, the first time either of those creatures takes the attack action or makes a spell attack against an enemy, the other creature may make one melee, ranged, or spell attack against the same enemy and may move up to half their movement speed to do so. Add the result of your superiority die to the damage of either attack.
On your Feet!- When you or your allies are surprised, you may expend a superiority die. If you do, choose any number of prone allies that can hear you and are within 30 ft. of you who are not incapacitated. Those creatures may stand up without spending any of their movement. Until your next turn, you may reduce one enemy's damage from an attack on you or those creatures by the amount rolled on the superiority die plus your CHA modifier.
Keep it Together!- You can use a bonus action on your turn and expend one superiority die to bolster the resolve of all companions within 30 ft. of you that can hear or see you. Each those creatures gains an amount of temporary hit points equal to the superiority die roll + your Charisma modifier. At the start of your next turn, the temporary hit points are removed.
Stand your Ground!- You may expend one superiority die as a bonus action on your turn. If you do, you and one creature that can see or hear you gains a bonus to their AC until your next turn equal to the amount rolled on your superiority die.
Move It!- You may use a reaction and expend one superiority die to move all allied creatures within 30 ft. that can see or hear you a number of feet equal to 5 times the amount rolled on your superiority die. A creature whose movement speed is less than this amount only moves up to their movement speed.
Take Cover!- You may expend one superiority die as a reaction to grant all allies within 30 ft. who can see or hear you advantage on DEX saving throws and partial cover against ranged attacks until your next round.
It's Me You Want!- When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to goad the target into attacking you. You add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC= 8+ proficiency +CHA). On a failed save, the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls against targets other than you until the end of your next turn.
Concentrate our Attack!- You may spend a bonus action on your turn and one superiority die to mark a target. All allies within a 30 ft. radius that can see or hear you have advantage on the first attack they make against the enemy you designate until your next turn. If an ally hits with their attack during this time, add the result of your superiority die to the damage.
Reconnaissance: At 7th level, if you spend 10 minutes observing an area, you learn how best to take advantage of the environment in combat. You can make an Investigation check from a distance of up to 100 ft. and have advantage on Perception checks made to identify any advantages you can employ or to locate hidden foes. This is largely subjective but the DM but can include things such as "The northwest column has a large crack in its base that makes it unstable" or "the ground in this radius is muddy and could heavily impede movement" or "the terrain in this area is slightly higher than the rest of the ground and would benefit a ranged attacker."
Improved Tactics: At 10th level, when you or an allied creature within 30 ft. of you makes an attack roll with advantage while flanking an enemy, add +1 to the damage roll if the attack hits.
Diversionary Tactics: At 18th level, using your quick thinking and mastery of warfare, you can completely divert the attention of an entire enemy force. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, but is ultimately at the discretion of the DM. For instance, one could burn swaths of dry grass to create a hasty smokescreen or command your allies to simultaneously feint. The end result is a diversion leaving all enemies at a temporary disadvantage that allows them to get blindsided by you and your allies. Once per long rest, you may spend a bonus action to cause all enemy creatures that can see or hear you to become blinded until your next turn.
