Talk:Duelist (5e Subclass)

I saw a abandoned project of subclass here, so i took the name and i'll try to recreate the Duelist prestige class from 3rd/3.5 edition. My goal goals with this subclass are:

- A fighter subclass with core abilities fueled by superiority dice.

- To differentiate from the battle master, this class will have no decision points and will be extremely focused on one type of play style. This is basically a swashbuckler subclass for the fighter, so my main concern is to make this different enough from it.

- Some ideas came from the duelist prestige class itself, like the unarmored defense and the focus on intelligence instead of charisma. This could be worked on this class in a similar manner on how the Samurai handle the wisdom on charisma related skills. Anastacio (talk)

Good luck, and I mean that in a good way. At least you are aware of existing roles. Red Leg Leo (talk) 07:26, 6 May 2020 (MDT)

First, thank you man! Now, continuing to present my reasons for the features i choose for this duelist:

- I ditched the idea of making this a class based on Superiority Die. I've tried to come up with something at the same time different but not alien to the system.

- The original 3.0 duelist abilities could, more or less, be divided in: using the special combat options, like dodge, the old "fight defensively" and "charge"; bonus to AC; bonus to things related to dexterity (like "reflexes saving throws" and initiative). The core ability of the duelist was related to increase damage using a feature similar to the sneak strike.

- In my version, i've tried to incorporate all older features in some way. My duelist has two core features: "Canny Defense" and "Precise Swordplay".

- "Canny Defense" defines the way this class should fight: naked with a rapier. Giving a unarmored defense, and a bonus to initiative and one ability check to enforce this kind of fight style. "Precise Swordplay" is my adaptation of "Precise Strike", giving now, once per round, a bonus to damage or a damage reduction on a dice roll. The size of the die is based on the "Brute" archetype table. Again, "Precise Swordplay" enforces a style of fighting (with a rapier), but can be used with armor, if the player, for some reason, decide to make a weird non intended build with this (kinda like the armored monks, who lose martial arts but keep other features). The capstone, "Elaborate Parry", is linked to "Precise Swordplay", enhancing its use.

- The 10th and 15th features are based on actions used in combat, incorporating a way to use dash and the dodge actions with his combat style.

- Finally, the 3.5 version lacked any sort of non combat feature. So i basically copy/paste the bonus proficiencies and the 7th level ability of the samurai, just changing enough to fit the theme. Anastacio (talk)