Show Notes
Fighter Class Options
Fighting Styles
Interception: Gives a way to be a protector without needing a shield. Reducing damage guaranteed is quite nice. But disadvantage can negate all damage potentially.
At lower levels interception may be better. As you can freely negate all damage. But at higher levels the prof bonus doesn’t scale with damage taken. So you’d rather the risk of Protector.
Superior Technique: You get a d6 superiority die and 1 maneuver per short rest.
This is really not impressive. Compared to other fighting styles that happen every single turn, this happens only once per short rest. Don’t see anyone taking this other than maybe Battlemaster. But generally the battlemaster doesnt need MORE maneuvers.
Unarmed Fighting: The damage you get isn’t too impressive. If anything it’s flavor only. As you can do the same damage with a club. And RAW you cannot punch as a bonus action.
Free damage from the grappler build makes it at least alright.
Overall some ‘okay’ additions. Which is probably for the bet as none of them SHOULD stand out.
Martial Versatility
Lets you change stuff around on ASI levels.
Maneuvers
Ambush: Gives the BM out of combat options. And bonuses to initiative cause that’s always nice. Having out of combat options is good because usually you have 2-3 in combat maneuvers you actually use then you keep getting more and have no use for them. Out of combat options give meaningful options unrelated to combat. Which fighters really need.
Bait and Switch: Adds some tactics but generally switching places isn’t that important as the creature can usually just walk around you and attack anyways. But it can be useful to give the AC to your friendly so they can more freely leave without needing to disengage. The possibility of giving +10 to AC is quite interesting.
Brace: Gives you the most annoying part of polearm master. But doesn’t actually work with sentinel which is what makes that combo super annoying because it doesn’t give an opportunity attack.
Commanding Presence: More out of combat utility. This is good for the same reasons as ambush. No more to say!
Grappling Strike: Free grapple as a bonus action. Early on it is good. But later on, you can forgo an attack and grapple instead. And there’s a lot of ways to get a use of your BA. So it may not be that great. Luckily you can swap it out later if you don’t need it!
One issue is this seems to fit with the trip maneuver. But this one makes you expend a bonus action, and make the grapple check. And the die, and doesn’t add damage. So trip is so much better.
Quick Toss: Bonus action throw. Really cool combat mechanic. At level 20 lets you throw like 9 axes in a turn with action surge. If you already had Thrown Weapon Fighting which lets you draw a weapon as part of the an attack. All you get is the addition to damage from your dex. Swinging a greatsword and pulling a javelin off your back and launching it is a super cool concept. So I love that.
Tactical Assessment: Another out of combat option. Fills out the BM quite well.
