Fighter: Nuances (PFRPG) PDF

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Fighter: Nuances offers more than 30 flavorful mechanic options for the Fighter Base Class to extend the range and scope of the Fighter Base Class both in combat and generally; it also includes a new archetype - the Mystic Fighter, as well as advice on, alternative uses for and approaches to the options contained herein.

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4/5

Disclaimer: I received this PDF for free as a prize from a contest.

This is a thirteen-page product, coming in a full-color version and a smaller black-and-white version for easier printing. Subtracting the cover, copyright page, and OGL, we have ten pages of actual content here.

This product introduces "Nuances", which it introduces as something similar to the Wizard's Arcane Discovery and can be taken in place of a bonus feat. They are specifically not feats themselves - the book notes that they were written solely with the Fighter in mind, and by not making them feats, they were able to avoid unplanned synergy with other classes. GMs do have the option of allowing them for other classes, though.

A number of these options have definite value for players. For example, one of the nuances allows Fighters to acquire Item Creation feats and take them in lieu of other bonus feats (although they're still going to need a high Spellcraft to craft effectively - but it means they won't be relying solely on other party members to make gear). Other nuances include choices like using their Bravery bonus on certain skill checks, wielding two-handed weapons with one hand (albeit at an accuracy penalty), and raising the DC of Concentration Checks for enemies who are casting in certain areas.

Some of these are definitely more desirable than others - not being disarmed, for example, is an issue that rarely comes up in most games and probably isn't worth a feat. That said, many of the choices here are powerful options, although they mostly just further improve the Fighter at what they're already good at - beating down enemies. Make no mistake - allowing this content is pretty much a straight upgrade to the Fighter in their strongest area, although how much use someone will make depends a lot on their build and how many feats they need - I don't think people are too likely to break the game on accident, though, and it's not as if well-made Fighters can't be brutal murder-machines to begin with.

Starting on Page 8, the book notes a number of alternate options, including how to use these as feats instead of a Fighter-only option, or making them broadly available to Fighters (either universally, or one per bonus feat) but requiring the expenditure of grit. This is adapted from the Gunslinger, transforming the Nuances into Deeds for the Fighter with a fairly similar method of expending, and regaining, power. Basically, it's trading easy access for limited use (although crit-focused builds will still do pretty well).

The book closes out with a few final options, including some nuances that grant magical abilities (Bloodrager or Magus spells, easy use of Dimension Door,etc.), and finally some advice for creating your own nuances.

I think it's clear by now that this book makes Fighters better - enough to raise some definite balance concerns, since stuff in combat isn't where the class has trouble. I would advise only allowing this for players who have their build planned in advance, allowing you to get a better sense for what they're actually going to do and how their use of this product would affect things. That's less of an issue if you're just using this to make an impressive NPC fighter, of course.

The book includes a number of (fairly basic) pieces of art and adheres to the standard two-column layout. I didn't notice any egregious spelling or grammar errors. All-in-all, this is a solid product that definitely achieves what it set out to do, and I'd personally rate it a 4/5. It's not a must-have, but if you're looking for a way to buff Fighters a bit, it is worth a look.


An Endzeitgeist.com review

4/5

This pdf clock in at 13 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 11 pages of content, so let's take a look!

So, it happens. Sometimes, my dynamic working process, jumping from module to crunch and back makes me postpone a given review because I'm not in the right mind-set...or have no playtesting slot...or...or...or. Most of the time, I get back to the book in time. And sometimes, I lose track of a book in the depth of my hard drive. This fate, alas, had befallen this book. Still, they say "Better late than never" -so let's dive into this!

The basic premise of this supplement, in a nutshell, is to provide the much maligned fighter-class some unique benefits that actually make sense, that make you want to play it....that lend an identity to it. These unique features are called "nuances" and can be taken instead of their bonus feats. Simple mechanic so far - so, how is this different from some of the other fighter fixes I've reviewed?

Well, formatting-wise, the nuances do not change the way the basic fighter-class works, so it's pretty much a plug-and-play-style supplement. We do not have any traditional class-ability exchanges, so the availability of Michael Sayre's great bravery-feats is not impeded - which can provide some actually interesting synergies. Beyond this, it should be noted that the material does some interesting things: Fighters of 10th level or more can, for example, replace up to Int-mod combat feats with others via a longer training of 1 hour - essentially, smart fighters can adapt better. Let's say you've specialized in tripping and now you're in a dungeon full of creatures that can't be tripped. Wildcard the feats and get new ones! The interesting thing here is that, while you still have to fulfill prereqs and the like and can't trade off prereqs sans also trading off the follow-up feats, you can still change, in a couple of days, your whole combat feat-array to match the task at hand. This is powerful, yes, but the minimum level helps keep the nuance in check. A similar trick may btw. be executed for weapon training as a class feature as well.

If you were always annoyed that the big brawny fighter made such a sucky diplomat, what about a nuance that lets you utilize your bravery bonus instead of your Charisma modifier for social skills? Now I am honestly pretty weary of Brute Style - at -2 to attack, you can one-hand two-handed weapons. For one, there's a reason for that one's limitation. Secondly, the nuance does not note whether the weapons still are treated as two-handed weapons for Str/damage-purposes or as 1-handed weapons. Clarification would be in order here. I am also no fan of any ability that grants immunity to something - there is, e.g., an ability that makes you completely immune to disarm - why? Why not utilize a significant, scaling bonus instead? Flat-out immunities tend to lead to ridiculous examples - when e.g. Thor can't disarm a puny 2nd level fighter with this nuance.

On the other hand, options to increase concentration (including stacking info) of hostile casters is pretty nice, and, since it's based on bravery, it scales. Compensative Specialization is highly problematic - it allows you to add your fighter levels to attributes for the purpose of feat qualification. A level 10 fighter would e.g. add +10 to all his attributes for the purpose of feat qualification. Doesn't sound bad, right? Well, it kind of is - not necessarily due to this pdf's fault, but still - you see, Pathfinder has quite an array of ridiculously strong feats intended primarily for monsters. While many of them have a primary lock-out via types, they also tend to have a second one that is based on attributes. Alas, there are quite a lot of ways to get that racial component via apotheosis, exotic races, etc. - which leaves the attribute. This nuance unlocks these feats. Whether this becomes problematic for you or not depends ultimately on how you handle feat-availability.

Scaling bonuses versus fatigue (and later exhaustion and paralysis - nice condition-scaling!) and easier access to critical feats, on the other hand, make imho sense. + Bravery AoOs per round, general exotic weapon proficiency, and at 8th level+, evasion, make sense. Wait what? I'm not complaining about the latter? Jup - since the bad Ref-save keeps it less useful than for the classic classes that have access to it. Higher-level fighters may also select a specific array of SPs Con-mod times per day. Leadership with bravery-bonus sans prereqs can also be gained. A nice means to make fighters be more relevant in investigations would be the nuance that lets you utilize Profession (Soldier) for multiple skills.

An option to increase bravery bonuses not only works well with these options - indeed, the math surprisingly still works with Bravery Feats. Ignoring 2+weapon training bonus DR is okay, though I would generally prefer a scaling mechanism for the DR - ignoring e.g. even some points of DR/epic at 6th level is not something I consider rules-aesthetically particularly smooth. Another nuance that can offset immunity versus a given maneuver is interesting, though the primary benefit of gaining a maneuver-related feat feels kind of redundant - they already are combat feats...though one could make a case that ignoring the prereqs makes it viable for certain builds and allows for tighter optimization. A reflexive damage versus will-subjugating options also makes sense. On the downside, adding a second attribute (Wis) to Dex to AC in light armor is pretty monk-ish and, while concept-wise not broken, it doesn't make too much sense build-wise at the late level it can be taken. Level 10 has a game-changer - If you move less than half your movement, you may still make a full attack and potentially, you can expend SP-uses granted by another nuance, to end a charge with a full attack or full movement - this is very powerful and per se flavorful - and, with level 10, it has a high enough level-prereq. however, also ignoring difficult terrain with such a charge...that's one step too much for me and less high-powered campaigns may want to increase the minimum level even further.

Heck, the pdf has a way to make endurance relevant, adding +1/2 fighter level and allowing you later to sleep in heavy armor - neat! Speaking of which - the pdf also has an option I ALWAYS considered to make more sense - adding shield-bonus to Ref-saves: Come on, standing with the magical shield raised high in the dragon's breath is iconic! Fighters regularly duking it out with the big ones will like means of scaling ignoring of size modifiers to an opponent's CMD. Counting as having a teamwork feat also is nice -your allies will definitely like you for it. One of my favorites is btw. Ultimate Veteran - this nuance eliminates aging penalties, allowing you to efficiently play a grizzled veteran sans sick penalties - and while before, this was mainly a flavor-option, it now also allows for easier identification of enemies, adding a further dimension to the nuance - great to see Forest Guardian Press further caring for the product and streamlining it!

The pdf does not just leave you with these options, though - if you're looking for means to making the nuances feats, combing them with bonus feats (instead of either/or-choices every level) - or even codifying them as deeds - these additional options really help integrating nuances in a game and make the difference for me by accounting for table variation (and correctly appraising the potential impact of these choices)- kudos! Speaking of which - there also would be the Mystic Fighter's nuances - a variant that may use further nuances to poach spells from the magus and bloodrager-lists, phase around the battlefield - essentially, for if you want a more magical fighter. Finally, handy advice is given to players and GMs to make their own nuances - advice that some designers should check out... *cough* dip-avoidance */cough*...neat!

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good - while not perfect, this is a well-edited pdf. Layout adheres to Forest Guardian Press' two-column b/w-standard with copious nice b/w-shadow silhouettes as artwork - I really like them - they look nice and provide an aesthetic identity. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience and with a second, more printer-friendly version - kudos for providing that one.

Christos Gurd's fighter nuances walk the line between being downright awesome and inspiring, and being slightly problematic. While one can definitely see the influence of Morgan Boehringer and Bradley Crouch, two veteran designers of great crunch, there are still some options that can prove to be problematic. On a rules-aesthetic level, I am not a big fan of certain design decisions (like the flat-out immunities), while absolutely adoring others - generally, there are several intriguing scaling options utilized and the pdf. What's great herein is really great and the problems that are here do not need to actually apply at your table - which, alongside the extensive design and implementation-advice, ultimately makes me round up from my final verdict of 3.5 stars. If you're looking for some unique further options for your fighter, take a look at this one!

Endzeitgeist out.


5/5

Simply put, nuances are abilities that fighters can select instead of bonus feats. They are specifically designed to mitigate the flaws of the fighter class, although within set boundaries (mostly keeping the base class unchanged and no stepping on toes of archetype abilities).
Nuances are most alike barbarian rage powers, in that they are very good by themselves, and mostly do not require other feats or nuances to be effective. They increase in- and out-of-combat versatility, shore up defenses and some are simply cool. Nuances don't increase overall DPR or AC (although there are some save and skill increases), so if you're looking for that you should probably look elsewhere.

Think nuances granting evasion or resolve class features, nuance that grants limited use of some spells (like expeditious retreat, endure elements, nothing too magical) and can be used to boost other nuances, nuance that grants you to be a teamwork feat buddy, nuance that makes Profession (soldier) behave as Perception, Heal and other skills, nuance granting you version of pounce etc.

I cannot really find any downsides to this PDF, except maybe that I would like that it steps on toes of some archetypes (since I find most of the fighter archetypes to be bland and unusable), and I find that some of the defensive nuances are on the conservative side (Conditioning), and some require Wis or Int (Fighter is already MAD, nuances should ease that up, not expand it).
Some nuances are a bit unclear (what does „You cannot substitute a greater number of ranks in Profession (soldier) than your current fighter level“line in Fully Trained Soldier mean? Or, Prenatural Movement is a bit cluttered and mentions Instant Movement, whatever that is).

It has to be said that some of the nuance could stand to be standard fighter abilities (Adaptive ones, Compensative Specialization).

You also get some advice on alternative ways to incorporate nuances on the end.

This book has probably the coolest original artwork I've seen in a small 3pp (ones that don't use expensive artists).

Definitely the best book I've seen by 3pp for fixing the fighter. It's sad that he needs it so badly.


5/5

This product introduces Fighter Nuances. Nuances are basically abilities that are fighter only that can be taken in place of a Fighter's bonus feats much like how Wizard Discoveries work. So basically some extra options to make your fighter better. Personally I think the idea is pretty clever. Since the main class feature a fighter has are combat feats this is a nice little modular way without effecting other classes. It gives Fighters more of a niche and flavor. But something like this is going to really hinge on whether or not I'd take these as a fighter. If these options don't matter enough or change the way I play this will be one of those kind of PDFs that never see the table regardless of how adequate it is.

Not everything is a hit but some things are downright game changing. But nothing really feels overpowered. Okay that's not true, some are overpowered in the sense that a fighter with them is miles better than a fighter without, but in the context of the rest of the game they all seem fair. If I had something to really say that was bad about the nuances themselves is that there aren't that many of them and I think it could have gone further in covering more bases and enable more play styles. One thing to note that some of these really favor Intelligence as an important stat which may or may not be annoying.

There are also some discussion of alternate ways to use or grant nuances, like giving them a grit-like cost or just handing them out for free whenever the fighter gains a fighter feat. there are also some extra magical nuances in the back.

As a whole I think these are great abilities, but being such a small product it feels like there isn't that much ambition. While the low list of nuances makes introducing them easier there aren't that many things to do with it making me feel a bit lackluster about it. Still its a solid product, and for it's price you're getting a straight buff to your fighter without any hassle so I'll give it five stars.


For the more refined fighter

4/5

Fighter: Nuances is an excellent and short book that provides effective options for the fighter class. This book does not increase damage output, as the fighter is already good at that. Instead, it provides the Nuance system, which is introduced as basically "fighter talents" that only the fighter can take in place of bonus combat feats.

These nuances provide a lot of utility to the fighter. They help them use skills, lead others, work well with their teammates, and even use a little "magic." Additionally, there are talents to increase combat mobility, or craft magic items effectively. For anyone afraid of making fighter numbers bigger, this book will mostly just increase save numbers, but not fighting numbers. Some talents affect weapon training, but only to provide bonuses to additional weapons, and never to increase the highest weapon training bonus.

Some of the nuances are a little weak, or are level gated at too high of a level to be relevant. However, these nuances are quite few and most nuances are appropriately powerful for their level.

Also included in Fighter Nuances is a fighter archetype that is a bit more magical. It trades the ability to take certain nuances to gain unique nuances for the archetype, granting it a magical fighter theme.

Additionally, the author includes suggestions for how to give fighter nuances to other classes if desired, how to more conservatively give fighters nuances, and how to give them away less conservatively. He also includes informative tips on creating your own nuances. Nice touch!

Fighter: Nuances earns a 4 out of 5, and I highly recommend it to anyone who thinks the fighter needs a little push. It provides good options without rewriting the class.


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Thanks Liz!!! I really need to do something about those preview images - if you click on it you see it in all its (oversized) glory...

Looking forward to more releases with author/designer Christos Gurd and other freelancers...


mwahahahahaha


Thanks for the great review Rynjin!!!

And yes, I prodded Christos a bunch of times about the concept of "option replacements" in the archetype - it didn't make a lot of sense to me to replace what were already options with more options, instead of just adding more options. Christos had an answer for that, but I can't remember what it was...


Yar. It's the kind of odd thing that's hard to word properly. I don't think any Paizo released archetype has ever actually done that before, the closest being the ones that go "You gain X, this replaces the Y you would normally receive at Z level".

I probably would have just listed it as something along the lines of "The <Insert Archetype name here> adds <Insert New Nuance Names here> to the list of Nuances it may select, but loses the ability to select <Standard Nuance names here>".


my logic behind the nuance replacements was they fit much the same role as the nuances they replace, getting a blackblade instead of being able to forge magical weapons for example. It was more to function as an alternate fighter than a simple archetype though, hence why its in the alternate rules section. I do see your point about ultimate warrior though, and i may errata in some nice boosting for that. Ultimate soldier and veteran were more to make interesting and memorable npcs, seeing that soldier disapoints...yeah i can do something about that.


oh and i forgot to say, my reasoning behind the combat maneuver nuances was that it doesn't make sense that the fighter should have to pick up combat combat expertise when they are already combat experts.


Reviewed! Thank you for the awesome product!


Adam B. 135 wrote:
Reviewed! Thank you for the awesome product!

and thank you for the awesome review, stay tuned for errata!


1 person marked this as a favorite.

ok so pending errata
1. add to Maneuver Specialist the following line

Quote:
If you have the fantastical warrior nuance you may expend a use while performing a combat maneuver to ignore that enemy’s immunity to that maneuver for one turn

2.Add to Ultimate Soldier

Quote:
Whenever you are subject to a constitution based check you may always treat the result of your roll as 20.

3.Add to Ultimate Veteran

Quote:
You gain an insight bonus on knowledge checks to identify enemies in battle equal to 10 + your wisdom or intelligence modifier, whichever is higher.

thanks for all the feedback from everyone


1 person marked this as a favorite.

special thanks to malwing for the five star review! Also note that nuances 2 is being written, and will incorporate rules for meshing with the stamina system detailed in Pathfinder Unchained!


How exciting! I look forward to it! That errata is looking pretty good too.


Thanks for the kind review Malwing. Christos has definitely taken your review to heart! He's working on F:N 2 as we speak.

As for the Intelligence based Nuances, I'm very happy to see more of these. Broadening the scope of the Fighter was definitely one of Christos' design goals.


Oceanshieldwolf wrote:

Thanks for the kind review Malwing. Christos has definitely taken your review to heart! He's working on F:N 2 as we speak.

As for the Intelligence based Nuances, I'm very happy to see more of these. Broadening the scope of the Fighter was definitely one of Christos' design goals.

A while ago I did a thought exercise as to how I'd divide class lines and what I'd make them do. After some thought I wanted to make fighter's need INT as a secondary stat, to differenciate them from Barbarians. They'd use 'techniques' and 'stances' and 'tactics' because my logic at the time was that Wizard and Fighters were opposite ends of the caster/martial spectrum and are probably the most iconic classes so I feel like they should be related. One should be a scholar of magic and one a scholar of war, directly contrasting with Barbarian/Sorcerer which are less scholarly and more ruled by passions and blood. Long story short: I've always felt compelled to have some sort of meaning to a mental stat with fighters so I feel good to have the incentive that's not annoying like Combat Expertise.


You pretty much hit my inspiration on the head malwing.


And thanks for that very considered review also, necromental!

Also hyped you liked the artwork!!! Nicer words I haven't heard in quite a while...

Definitely looking at how to make the "social" or "skilled" Fighter less MAD... regardless of a Fighter's traditional "role"...


Reviewed first on endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here, on OBS and d20pfsrd.com's shop.

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