This is a work in progress I just want some feedback.
The basic idea of this archtype is a teamwork oriented tactical fighter -- the guy doesn't just hit you with a big stick -- he hits you hard and sets you up for his buddy to do the same. He understands the tactical nature of combat and is willing to sneak into an advantagous spot to attack from. Movement is more important that the heaviest armor protection mainly because if he sets things up right he won't be attacked anyways.
Gives up: Bravery
Gets: Stealthy combat -- Sleath and acrobatics become class skills, gain a +1 on sleath, acrobatic, climb, and swim checks when moving. Bonus increase by +1 every four levels.
Gives up: Weapon Training 1
Gains: Practiced Maneuvers -- Gets a +1 bonus on CMB and CMD. Combat Maneuvers don't provoke (alternatively one combat maneuver doesn't provoke and gets another maneuver that doesn't at levels 9,13,17). Bonus increases at levels 9,13,17.
Gives up: Armor Training 2
Gains: Combat Movement -- Retains dex bonus while moving (even when climbing, swimming, balancing). Crawling doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.
Gives up: Weapon Training 2
Gains: War Buddy -- choose one party member at the start of the day. As long as you spend one hour training with this party member each day you both gain the following: So long as your War Buddy and you are threatening the same target you both count as flanking that target. Also you both may use any teamwork feats the other knows so long as you meet the prerequisites. You may only have one War Buddy at a time.
Gives up: Armor Training 3
Gains: Improved Aid other -- You may aid other out to the reach (or range if using a ranged weapon) of the weapon you are using. The ally must be within this distance. When using Aid Other the bonus provided increases by 1.
Gives up: Weapon Training 3
Gains: Squadie -- You may have a number of "War Buddies" equal to your fighter level /5.
Gives up: Armor Training 4
Gains: Improved Cover -- So long as you have soft cover you may treat it as partial cover instead. Partial Cover instead provides total cover for you. Effects that would remove your cover instead reduce it back to the normal level you would get.
Gives up: Weapon Training 4
Gains: Nasty Maneuver -- You may perform a combat maneuver with any weapon you are using. When performing a combat maneuver with a weapon if you are successful you may deal the weapon's damage (including any bonuses you have active) in addition to the maneuver's normal effects.
Gives up: Armor Mastery
Gains: Cover ally -- When an ally moves within your threatened area he doesn't provoke attacks of opportunities when he does so (you also do not provoke attacks of opportunity while moving provided you are using a melee weapon).
Gives up: Weapon Mastery
Gains: Set up -- When you perform a combat maneuver your target provokes an attacks of opportunity from all of your allies even if you don't succeed on the combat maneuver.
Bumped for the hope of comments.
A couple things, IMO only.
Commando? Really sounds like a ranger archetype to me... I wanna be an airborn ranger... I'd be interested in building a Ranger Commando archetype, that would be pretty cool.
I see the 'aid another' theme in your build and while there's nothing wrong with that, you're giving up major combat functionality, hurting the potential for your fighter's success on the battlefield
Look at the Cavalier, Order of the Lion. He's got 'aid another' type abilities, but to one's sovereign and family, not one's fellow party member, but look at all the other abilities he gets, charge, mounted fighting, banner mechanic, some battlefield control.
I see no problem with through archetype removing key fighter features, as long as a viable combatant remains, so that its balanced, but different. Your 'commando' seems pretty weak to me, losing too much for what he gains.
I'd suggest to remove 1 each 'aid' abilities from the list so as to keep some levels in Weapon/Armor Training, or perhaps from Armor Training only - or 2 Weapon and 3 Armor, so he's still got 3 Weapon and 2 Armor.
Perhaps every other ability in your chain is more an offensive general attack bonus or other tactical advantage.
Of course that's considering my style of game, not to overly criticize.
GP
Soon I'll be doing my Ninja prestige class build for Kaidan, with the intentions of having a village/ninja house with base classes with ninja qualities to support the Ninja missions.
Shinobi archetypes will be made available for Bard, Monk, Oracle, Ranger, Rogue and Sorcerer. I'm thinking of creating a 9 level limited spell list called Kuji-kiri spells that involve somantic (non verbal) components only for silent casting. I intend to replace available Bard, Ranger, Rogue minor/major magic, and Sorcerer spell lists with Kuji-Kiri.
Ki powers - since my monk and ninja should get access to some unique spell-like powers, I intend to greatly expand the available list of ki powers, for combat enhancements, save and DC check buffs, special maneuvers, concealment when moving, etc. as part of that ki enhancment.
Some new stealthy combat feats, and new spells as well.
So I will definitely have ninja influenced Rangers and Rogues in my setting that could very well fit the 'Commando' concept.
As an aside, since 'commando' is the keyword here. Looking at the Army for comparison, I see a Fighter as elite infantry, not as a commando. The straight Ranger is almost a commando already, and could be extended by tweaking his abilities a bit moreso, but not really necessary, as a Ranger is quite the commando as is. Combat rogues would fit as well.
GP
I agree with the foregoing comments that the idea has merit but should perhaps be repackaged to a rogue or ranger.
That aside, as a package for the fighter I think it is too strong. What I like a lot about the APG packages is that they are generally pretty subtle; the commando package in its current form is pretty focussed and upfront about being hard-ass.
In steps:
1. Stealthy combat, I like; I would recommend, replaces Bravery, "Stealth and acrobatics become class skills, furthermore you gain a bonus to acrobatics, climb, stealth and swim of +1; this bonus increases by +1 at 4th level and every four levels thereafter."
2. Practiced maneuvers, replaces weapon training 1, 2, 3 and 4, "Gain a +1 bonus to CMB. Combat maneuvers do not provoke. The bonus increases by +1 at 9th level and every 4 levels thereafter"
3. Combat movement; I'd scrap in favor of getting Armor Training 1
4. War Buddy is a very potent ability. I would reduce it to:
Replaces Armor Training 2, 3, 4, "Choose one party member at the start of the day. As long as you spend one hour training with this party member each day you both gain the following: So long as your War Buddy and you are threatening the same target you both count as flanking that target. You may train one additional comrade at 11th level and every four levels thereafter"
All other abilities get chopped as they are already paying out benefits to the prior package replacements.
Funnily enough the Army is a very good place to see where each of the abilities I gave this archtype came from -- and a very bad place to go looking for "elite troops".
The strength of the Army (speaking of the Army of the USA) doesn't come from the individual soldier's skill with weaponry, or ability in armor -- it comes from the unit's ability to work cohensively and support each other. This isn't to say that Army personel are not well trained -- but that the training is on group work more than individual excellence.
That being said I think the comments on the word "commando" is a great place to start.
" In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite infantry and/or special forces units, specialised in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and effect attacks. Originally “a commando” was a type of combat unit, as opposed to an individual in that unit. In other languages, commando and kommando denote a “command”, in the sense of a military unit."
As we can see the intent of the commando is not the "elite super weapons expert" but instead a light (hence why we don't have armor training 2~4 -- you aren't "light" in heavy armor) Unit specializing in group tactics against other military targets. The best means of effecting such attacks are through asymmetrical warfare and guerrilla tactics. However that is not to say these are paramilitary or not "elite" -- simply that the individual isn't as "elite" as he is with the group.
The abilities granted are intended to play into this --
The bonus to skills checks (and class skills granted) represents part of the guerrilla wafare style (and scouting duties) of the commando as does the armor training 1. The ability to move in acceptable armor -- armor that isn't so much as to prevent the skills and movement, or too heavy for the task at hand is vital. Heavier armors would be too much weight and too much "shock trooper" in effect. The practiced maneuvers ability at level 5 (replacing weapon training 1) also represents the asymmetrical warfare aspects of the commando. Anyone can sit there and trade hard hits -- that isn't the purpose of the commando -- instead he is supposed to prevent you from hitting back.
He does this by removing your ability to position (by trip, reposition, grappling, and bullrushing), strike (by disarm, dirty tricks, grapple or sundering) and act tactically. He will strike to kill but I feel that is represented still with his ability to take weapon specialization and greater weapons spec. Basically his weapon training "weapon group" at level 5 is "combat manuevers" instead of "heavy blades" or "axes.
Level 7 gives him what amounts to a few rogue talents -- specifically the ones that allow movement without losing his dex bonus and the ability to do combat crawling without provoking (this would come straight from boot camp for example -- the ability to traverse the battlefield without being a large target).
The war buddies ability (to be renamed "Brother in Arms") is teamwork oriented in nature. It would be comparable to both the "gang up" feat and the cavalier's "tactician" ability. It is superior to both in some aspects -- the teamwork feats are shared without an action spent, and continuously while the flanking portion works with one person instead of needing two. Please note that anyone in the party could be the Commando's "brother in arms" meaning that if he selects the party rogue for example the rogue will have a better chance to deal sneak attack damage since he doesn't have to manuever for flanking. The fact that this is a direct result of the commando's abilities means that the extra damage can be directly attributed to the commando. With a small investment in teamwork feats by the commando the "brother in arms" will help provide better bonuses to the commando and to his partner. The fact that he can change who his "brother in arms" is means that even if someone in the party dies the fighter doesn't lose access to the class ability or his feats giving him more options than he would have if he relied on others to have the feats as well.
I agree that the Improved Aid Other needs work -- I'm thinking to change it so that the commando can simply Aid multiple people at a time with the same extension in the range of the Aid Other action as well. The change would be:
"When aiding other the commando can aid anyone within range of his weapon (be this from reach or ranged weapon range). The commando may use the aid other action for more than one person at a time. When he first gains this ability he may use the aid other action for 2 people. For every four levels he gains in this archtype after gaining this ability he can aid another person with the same action."
The "Squadies" ability is an extension of the (formally war buddies) "brother in arms" ability which means that the commando could conceivably be flanking (and getting and providing bonuses with teamwork feats) for his entire party. I would make an alteration in the number of squadies he had from 2 when the ability is gained (instead of just the one brother in arms) with an increase every 4 levels after gaining the ability (much like how the weapon training works currently).
Improved Cover is something I think needs more work -- I really like the idea since it provides bonuses for tactical thinking and getting things between you and the attacker but I feel that the over all bonus might be a bit light currently. Still to go from "soft cover" to "partial cover" instead or from "partial cover" to "total cover" is a rather large boon.
Nasty Manuever is an ability I almost want to give earlier -- however I felt the teamwork aspects of the commando were more important and needed to be accessed sooner rather than later. Please realize how nasty this ability is. Basically if you use replacement manuevers (like trip and disarm) you could full attack a target, trip him disarm him and such and still get damage on each of those attacks. Yes there are feats that do similiar things but in the opposite direction, and with penalties on the attack rolls. This allows combat manuevers and weapon damage on the same roll, and if the "greater manuever" feats have been taken in many cases the commando will set himself up to get an AoO on his opponent too.
On Cover Ally -- I agree this ability could probably use a little work -- as it stands currently it is basically "I let everyone move full movement without an acrobatics check". I feel this is very powerful (since people don't have to tumble at half speed instead and still possibly get hit) -- well worth DR 5/- and just as likely (if not more so) to prevent damage.
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Everything said I would point out that neither the ranger nor the Rogue have options anywhere in the base classes or Archtypes to do this sort of stuff. In fact most of the feats that could be taken to come close are specifically combat feats -- stuff the fighter excels at. I do understand the "teamwork" aspect isn't for everyone -- but it is exactly what commandos use, and I would suggest is much more powerful than most people want to give initial credit too. To explain the difference I would point out what a huge impact having a bard in the party can make for damage output -- by level 7 he can give either +4 to hit and damage with a +2 bonus on all save throws and skill checks OR a +3 bonus to hit and a +2 bonus to damage, save throws against fear in addition to extra movement and an extra attack on full attacks (with additional bonuses to initiative and AC).
This guy (again) isn't going to do the boring "Oh look I killed a balor at level 16 in 1~2 rounds by myself". Currently there isn't really a class designed for a martial character to do the "battlefield control/team buffing" stuff (though the cavalier comes very close) -- this is an attempt to do such without relying on the others in the party to give up feats and the like to make it work.
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EDIT: (the original reply here got posted before I saw LoreKeeper's post)
I agree the later abilities are strong -- however I would suggest that perhaps you are underplaying the power of the weapon training ability to start with:
Weapon training by level 17 gives the following:
+4 to hit, damage, and CMB checks with one class of weapons.
+3 to hit, damage, and CMB checks with one class of weapons.
+2 to hit, damage, and CMB checks with one class of weapons.
+1 to hit, damage, and CMB checks with one class of weapons.
Thus it has the effects of the following feats:
Weapon focus, and a reduced weapon specialization with several weapons.
Greater weapon focus, and weapon specialization with another group of weapons (instead of one weapon).
Even better weapon focus and half of greater weapon specialization with yet another group of weapons.
Double Greater weapon focus, and greater weapon specialization with one more group of weapons.
This is in effect:
2 feats for several weapons (one group)
3 feats for each of several weapons (in another group)
4+ feats for each weapon in yet another group of weapons.
and finally:
6 feats for each weapon in a final group of weapons.
Basically what I'm saying is it provides well over 30 feats worth of bonuses.
Practiced maneuvers doesn't adjust over all To hit and never helps damage (directly). In effect the first level ability is 15 feats spread over 12 levels: Improved maneuver for each of the types of maneuvers (bull rush, sunder, disarm, steal, grapple, sunder, repostion, trip, disarm) with an increase in the bonus. The greater feats also provide AoO's when they hit.
Brother in arms is equilivent to the first level cavalier ability (tactican) it does work all day but unlike tactics it only affects one ally (instead of all), and the "Gang up" feat again a little better since he only needs one ally, but it has to be a specific ally. So 2 more feats here.
Nasty Maneuvers is about the same as most the greater manuever feats which provide AoO's (several of which the user of which gains an AoO with the use of it anyways). So again about 9 feats here.
Squadies is fairly powerful in that it finally expands -- see my above comments in this post though about changing the number of squadies the commando would have. However again at this point the cavalier (the only other one with a similiar ability -- at this point greater tactician) has similiar abilities in both usage and number of allies affected.
I honestly don't think allowing armor mastery and weapon mastery as they are for the base fighter to apply to the commando would really make sense -- those abilities are supposed to build off of the armor and weapon training -- as such I don't really see them working for the commando (especially in view of what a commando is -- see above).
Honestly I like the archetype just the way you have it. I want to make an NPC using this.