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I've made many attempts at trying to communicate what it is that martials need. I think my most successful such communication may be this post:
I haven't read the whole thread, but to my way of thinking there's one big thing that the fighter needs to be "unchained" from that's more important than anything else:
Realism.
"You can't shoot a bow that many times in 6 seconds!"
"You can't jump that far!"
"You can't just cut through a door like it's butter!"
"You can't wrestle something that big!"
"You can't cut something incorporeal without magic!"
"You can't break that world record!"You can't, you can't, you can't, you can't, you can't... No, you can't. That's why I'm playing a fantasy game starring someone who isn't YOU.
Currently, the name of the game is "if real people can't do it, then fantasy people can't* do it either".
I want my fighter to stop the dragon's bite by grabbing him by the teeth. And then body slam him.
I want my fighter to swing his sword and bat your enervation right back at you.
I want my fighter to get save-or-die effects at the same level your wizard does. Maybe even earlier, since I'm supposed to be good at killing things.
I want my fighter to have things he can do that no magic spell can duplicate.
Unchain the fighter from "realism". Everything else will follow.
** spoiler omitted **
Seriously fantastic, and the point of a lot of these "problems with martials" threads.
Also, I quoted because this needs to be read at least 3 times. It's that awesome.
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I just want martials to be able to screw with tye world as much as casters can. If your wizard can tear space and time asunder with an errant thought, i should be able to make the air shiver and the mountains quake by drawing my sword. If your wizard can rip the soul out of a demigod just for funzies, i should be able to cleave a damn mountain with the same effort.
So far the wizard's getting their phenominal cosmic power, so where is the fighter's?
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The fighter should be able to take a movement between attacks based on currently BAB and their over all movement. so lets say a 20th lvl fighter.
+20 BAB 10 ft movement
+15 BAB 10 ft movement
+10 BAB 10 ft movement
+5 BAB attack last guy
I just watched the new 300 movie and a fight standing still is going to get himself killed, it seems like swordsmanship is all about movement.
I just want martials to be able to screw with tye world as much as casters can. If your wizard can tear space and time asunder with an errant thought, i should be able to make the air shiver and the mountains quake by drawing my sword. If your wizard can rip the soul out of a demigod just for funzies, i should be able to cleave a damn mountain with the same effort.
So far the wizard's getting their phenominal cosmic power, so where is the fighter's?
I wouldn't call somebody who could do those things a fighter; they're just a different flavor of wizard.
To me, an epic martial would be somebody who can do only a tiny fraction of the damage that a t-rex can dish out, but manages to beat it anyway. Not somebody who can dive off a 500 foot cliff, hit the ground, and walk away, but rather somebody who can dive off the cliff, shoot an arrow with a rope attached into a crack in the rock, and swing to safety. Somebody who can shoot an incoming arrow out of the sky on a reaction. Somebody who doesn't think twice about having a sword fight while balancing on a tightrope. I want a martial who doesn't have superhuman strength or toughness, or quasi-magical powers, but who can beat enemies who do using nothing but an epic level of skill. Put another way, an epic martial isn't the Hulk, it's Captain America, or Green Arrow, or Batman.
If the fighter should be batman, then I would say that your going to have to throw some GM fiat powers onto their chassis so beating the superman equivalent makes some sort of sense.
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Batman.