DEX 2Her - Master of the Longsword

[Ambaryerno]

Anywho, tweaked:

Master of the Longsword

The Master of the Longsword is a professional warrior trained in the use of two-handed swords and polearms who, rather than relying on raw power, makes use of speed and finesse to harry his opponents with an accurate barrage of blows to keep them off-balance. Unlike the Weapon Master he doesn't heavily specialize in one type of weapon, but has instead studied the synergy between a wide range of equipment, and is able to utilize them all equally to their fullest extent, if at the cost of hitting power.

Hit Dice: D8
BAB: High

Proficiencies
Weapons: Simple, Martial
Armor: Light

Saves
High: Reflex
Low: Fort

Skill Points: 3
Class Skills: Bluff, Intimidate, Lore: History, Lore: Local, Lore: Martial (New Skill, this could be made a class skill for Fighter, Weapon Master, Dwarven Defender, etc., as well), Parry, Spot, Taunt, Tumble

Note: This class does NOT qualify as Fighter levels for Feat purposes.

Master of the Longsword abilities only work when wearing light or no armor (IE if a Master of the Longsword takes the Medium Armor Proficiency, he no longer benefits from those abilities if wearing medium armor). All require him to be using a two-handed sword or polearm no larger than one size class larger than him (IE, for a human they only apply to Medium and Large weapons, and only wielded in two hands).

Level 1 Measured Blows
Level 2
Level 3 Parting Strike
Level 4
Level 5 Half-Sword
Level 6 Disarm
Level 7 Skillfull Defense
Level 8
Level 9 Weapon Synergy I
Level 10 Scholar of Arms
Level 11 Feint
Level 12 Disabling Blow
Level 13 Vor
Level 14 Wrestling at Sword
Level 15
Level 16 Coup-de-Gras I
Level 17 One With The Blade
Level 18 Mordhau
Level 19 Weapon Synergy II
Level 20 Provost of Arms
Level 21 Relentless Barrage
Level 22 Coup-de-Gras II
Level 23
Level 24 Aggressive Defender
Level 25 Chink in the Armor
Level 26 Combat Insight
Level 27 Master's Defense
Level 28
Level 29
Level 30 Master of Arms

Feat Descriptions

Measured Blows: At Level 1, he has trained to make precise attacks when wielding one of his weapons by tightening up his movements and making smaller and quicker strikes, gaining accuracy at the expense of damage. When this mode is activated, he gains +3 AB at the expense of -3 Damage.

Parting Strike: At Level 3, as a full round action the Master of the Longsword executes a quick cut to the top of his opponent's scalp to distract him by opening a wound that will bleed into his eyes. The attack is made at his full BAB, and if it connects the target is blinded for the next round.

Half-Sword: (Scripted Modal) At Level 5, when fighting in Measured Blows, the MotLS can elect to move one hand onto the blade of his sword, shortening up his reach and reducing his power, but further increasing precision. Once activated, when wielding any sword two-handed or polearm the damage type changes to Piercing (if not already) and critical threat range increases by +2, but at the cost of a further -2 damage. It does not stack with the Weapon Master's increased multiplier, but will stack with Keen or Improved Critical. If the Master comes out of Measured Blows for any reason once activated, Half-Sword is disabled.

Disarm: At Level 6 the Master of the Longsword receives the Disarm feat for free, even if he doesn't meet the requirements.

Skillful Defense: At Level 7, the Master of the Longsword has learned to defend himself with his weapons as if they were a shield in melee combat. He gains +1 AC (Shield) for every 10 ranks of Parry when fighting in Measured Blows. This only applies against melee weapons, and only against his current target.

Weapon Synergy: At Level 9 the Master of the Longsword may wield any sword or sword-like weapon (IE bastard sword and katana) and polearm even if he lacks the proficiency feat for it, as long as he does so two-handed. At Level 19, he has undertaken sufficient study that he has mastered the similarities in how his weapons are wielded, and may apply any bonuses from Weapon Focus, Power Critical, or Improved Critical feats to all weapons in its type (two-handed swords, or polearms). Note that having feats in more than one weapon of the same type (IE if the character has Weapon Focus Longsword and Weapon Focus Greatsword) does not stack.

Scholar of Arms: The Master of the Longsword's knowledge of weapons lends him an intuitive grasp of their inherent properties, granting him bonuses in his skill at wielding his qualifying weapons. He gains an additional +1 AB for every 5 ranks of Lore (Martial).

Feint: At Level 11 the Master of the Longsword receives the Feint feat for free, even if he doesn't meet the requirements.

Disabling Blow: At Level 12 he may, as a full round action, make an attack that cripples his opponent and reduces their AB and Damage by -2, as well as reducing their movement speed, for a number of rounds equal to 1 round per five class levels. The target must make a Fort Save with a DC of 10 + 1/2 the Master's class level + 1/2 his DEX modifier to avoid the penalty. It has a cool down of 2 minutes.

Vor: At Level 13 the Master of the Longsword's unrelenting assault takes the initiative, and keeps his opponent off-balance and forces them to react to him. As a full round action, the Master of the Longsword makes an attack at his full BAB. If the attack is successful, for the next 1 round per five class levels the Master takes control of the fight, and during this time the opponent's DC for Concentration Checks on any spells and abilities used by the opponent when engaged in melee combat are increased by 1 for every 6 class levels. It has a 2-minute cool down.

Wrestling at Sword: At Level 14 the Master of the Longsword now uses DEX for Knockdown checks in place of STR. If Half-Sword is active, he may add his weapon's Enhancement Bonus to his roll.

Coup-de-Gras: At Level 16, as a standard action the Master may deliver an attack against a prone opponent at his full BAB. If the attack is successful the hit is an automatic Critical at the weapon's maximum damage. At Level 22 this is upgraded even further by granting +1 to the Critical Multiplier. This attack has a 2 minute cool down.

One With The Blade: At Level 17 the Master of the Longsword has achieved sufficient mastery with his weapons they have effectively become an extension of his body. Whenever wielding any polearm or a sword two-handed, his weapon is considered to be a finesse weapon, and may use DEX for AB.

Mordhau: At Level 18, as a full round action, the Master of the Longsword takes his sword by the blade, and swings it like a mace or hammer. If the blow connects, it deals his weapon's normal dice and enhancement bonus in bludgeoning damage (IE a longsword would deliver 1d8 + EB Bludgeoning). The target must then make a Fort save with a DC of 10 + 1/2 the Master's class level + 1/2 his DEX modifier + his weapon size or be dazed for 1 round per 6 class levels. If the target fails this check by 10 or more, he is stunned for the same duration. Regardless of whether the attack hits or misses, the Master suffers an AB penalty of -2 for the next round. It has a cool down of 60 seconds.

Provost of Arms: At Level 20 the Master of the Longsword has further refined his technique for harrying his opponents, and can now inflict devastating bleeding wounds against his opponent. Disabling Blow now applies one point bleeding damage per six class levels for its duration of effect.

Relentless Barrage: At Level 21, whenever the Master of the Longsword succeeds with his Vor attack, his opponent must make a Reflex save modified by the Vor penalty against a DC of 10 + 1/2 the Master's class level + 1/2 his DEX modifier. If this roll fails, he suffers an additional penalty of -2 to AC and AB for as long as the Master is in Vor.

Aggressive Defender: At Level 24 the Master of the Longsword is constantly moving his weapon, ready to intercept any incoming blow even when he's attacking. Whenever using Measured Blows, he gains +3 AC in addition to his AB bonus against his current opponent. It only applies against melee attacks.

Chink in the Armor: At Level 25 the Master of the Longsword has learned to spot and target the weaknesses in his opponent's armor. As a full round action he makes a spot check against a DC of (10 + Armor AC + Armor Enhancement) x 2. If successful, for the next 1 round per 3 class levels he gains an additional +2 to his Critical Threat range against that target. This ability has a 2 minute cooldown, and stacks with the critical threat bonus from Half-Sword.

Combat Insight: At Level 26, the Master of the Longsword receives the Combat Insight Feat, even if he doesn't meet the requirements.

Master's Defense: At Level 27, the Master of the Longsword may add 1/2 his weapon's Enhancement Bonus as AC (Shield) against his current target. This bonus stacks with his bonus for Skillful Defense, and only applies against melee attacks.

Master of Arms: The Master of the Longsword has fully mastered his weapons, to the point that his attacks come so quickly and furiously he may press his opponents beyond their ability to keep up. As a result, each round the Master lands a successful attack while Vor is active, the AC and AB penalties suffered by his opponent increase by 2.

Additional Feats

The following feats are some ideas for additional abilities available for selection at level-up:

Penetrating Thrust (Requires Half-Sword, 17 INT): When fighting in Half-Sword, the Master of the Longsword gains 1 point of penetration against non-magical damage reduction per 10 class levels. Chink in the Armor increases this to +2 per 10 levels.

Expanded Synergy (Requires Weapon Synergy II, 19 INT): The Master of the Longsword may apply his bonuses from Weapon Focus, Improved Critical, or Power Critical to all qualifying weapons.

Break Fall (Require DEX 21): If knocked down, the Master of the Longsword can make a second check using his DEX modifier. If the roll succeeds, he escapes the knockdown.

Multifighting (Require DEX 25, INT 19, Aggressive Defender): The Master of the Longsword has carefully studied footwork and angles to better defend himself against multiple opponents. He may now apply his AC bonuses to all opponents engaging him in melee range, not just his current target.

A note on the below: Because harnischfechten (armored fighting) is a central part of the martial arts from which this class draws influence, I'm trying to find SOME way to work it in.

Harness Fighting (Requires Mobility, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Chink in the Armor): If the Master of the Longsword takes the Heavy Armor Proficency, he may now utilize his abilities when wearing Full or Half Plate armor.

Agile Harness Fighter (Requires Harness Fighting, DEX 25): The Max DEX bonus for wearing Full or Half Plate is increased by 2. This also stacks with the bonus for Mithral armor.

General Feats

These are some general feats that could be available to any character.

Ward of the Fool: The character assumes a ward position offering his opponent an opening, intending to lure him into an attack to set up a counter. Whenever Parry is enabled, he gains a +5 bonus to his check.

Deft Hands (Require Feint, DEX 21): Whenever the character uses Feint against his opponent, he may use his DEX bonus for his Bluff roll rather than CHA (because it makes no sense whatsoever that your Charisma should determine how good you are at making it look like your sword is going somewhere other than where it actually is).

Additional Equipment

Some ideas for new equipment:

Rondel

Type: Martial Weight: 1.0 pound(s)
Dmg Type: Piercing Size: Tiny
Critical: 20/x3 Damage: 1d4
Feats: Martial

The rondel is a specialized form of dagger with a long, slender, needle-like point designed specifically for penetrating between the joints of plate armor. Its main purpose is to deliver a coup-de-gras to fallen opponents or to serve as a knight's last line of personal defense, however it has also become popular among merchants and tradesmen.

Polehammer

Type: Martial Weight: 8.0 pound(s)
Dmg Type: Bludgeoning and Piercing Size: Large
Critical: 20/x3 Damage: 2d6
Feats: Martial

As armor grew heavier, weapons evolved to better contend with it, leading the conventional warhammer to develop into the polehammer. The polehammer consists of a hammer head at the end of a 6-8ft shaft, and is a favored weapon of heavily-armored knights. In addition to the hammer head, polehammers generally featured a reverse spike for punching holes through armor or for hooking knights off their horse, and a spike at the end for thrusting like a spear.

Estoc

Type: Martial Weight: 4 pounds
Dmg Type: Piercing Size: Medium
Critical: 18-20/x2 Damage: 1d8

A particular form of longsword featuring a narrow, pyramidal blade for thrusting. Unlike the conventional longsword it has no cutting ability, and was designed for piercing the joints in plate armor.


Zweihander

Type: Martial Weight: 10.0 pound(s)
Dmg Type: Slashing and Piercing Size: Large
Critical: 20/x3 Damage: 3d4
Feats: Martial

The largest and most impressive of swords, these massive blades range as much as 6ft in total length. Because of their size these swords are actually wielded like polearms, and are often favored by wealthy mercenaries for contending with pike formations.

I've put Parting Strike into the class progression as an early harrying ability, and replaced Insightful Strike with Combat Insight: First, since INT is probably going to be the secondary stat for this class because of the need for lots of skill points, most builds are probably going to take it, anyway. Also, opening up the Combat Insight/Insightful Strike stack would be pretty unbalancing, and not fitting the lore of sacrificing damage for AB.

I'd forgotten that Chink in the Armor was an additional +AB on successful Spot, so I've changed this to an additional bonus to the Critical Threat range against that target, instead.

I've currently left Master of Arms as-is, but I'm open to hearing alternatives if the AB/AC penalty progression is too stiff. Doubling as a potential feat at level up has been removed under the understanding that it's not possible to script.

[K'yon Oblodra]

Because if you'd actually read what the class is trying to do, you'd realize that combination doesn't accomplish it.

I'm filing this away as "Unconstructive." If you've got something constructive to suggest on how to improve/balance the class, by all means post away. If not, thank you, come again.

You know you're not doing him justice, from reading what he said about swashbuckler is not too far from the truth, in a way the class IS the dexterity fighter.

Now you might see your class as something entirely different but consider his critique if you don't agree with it maybe take it as reason to further explain your differences.

To me the difference isn't too clear really... I know you have tons of feats that do different things than what the swashbuckler does but from the background it feels very similar. This makes it harder for people to burn for your class.

So yea overall it was a very good point to make from comments and gives you something to think about if you're not willing to just use what's there then find a way to show everyone what makes your class so unique especially backgroundwise.

From the look of it one could really just add a few feats to the game to enable what you want to achieve via fighter or swashbuckler + some new combat feats.

Don't mean to offend you and I am sure comments didn't mean to do that either and your last comment was missing some respect which I think you should be careful with.

Edit: now you updated all this stuff again... Would be good if you could highlight the made changes... Have to admit that I am not interested in reading through all of it again

[Ambaryerno]

If they're too similar, he could have offered suggestions on how to better differentiate the classes, or as you said, suggested making feats available to Swash that would allow finesse to apply to 2H weapons (which still doesn't address the concept/lore behind the class). Instead he kept at the "Just use a shortsword model that looks like a longsword and roll a Hin so it's two-handed." So no, I DON'T view that as helpful.

Edited the post to highlight the major changes.

[Sun Wukong]

That Parting Strike is so OP that everyone would take 3 levels of this PRC, or how many needed to get it. The only fail condition is 5% miss chance.

Blindness is truly crippling in NWN2, you cannot fight back even if you have blindfight. Thus to abuse this ability, well, you just need to pile up on damage on that single hit. Even if that hit does no damage, well, then you just need a friend to pile up the damage, or just a summon fo some kind.

And generally, I just do not like the idea of a Base Class that is all about just using one weapon.

[Ambaryerno]

That Parting Strike is so OP that everyone would take 3 levels of this PRC, or how many needed to get it. The only fail condition is 5% miss chance.

Blindness is truly crippling in NWN2, you cannot fight back even if you have blindfight. Thus to abuse this ability, well, you just need to pile up on damage on that single hit. Even if that hit does no damage, well, then you just need a friend to pile up the damage, or just a summon fo some kind.

And generally, I just do not like the idea of a Base Class that is all about just using one weapon.

That's one reason why it's limited to a 1-round effect. However it could be tweaked with a Fort save same as Disabling Blow, require a Crit confirmation, or negated bycertain helmet types, etc. if necessary.

And it's not just one weapon. As noted, this would apply to any of the "lighter" forms of two-handed weapons (read the class description: any sword wielded 2H of up to one size class larger than the character) and polearms. As for a specific list, depending on the character's size it would apply to:

Bastard Sword
Greatsword
Halberd
Katana
Longsword
Quarterstaff
Rapier (Gnomes and Hin)
Shortsword
Spear

Plus of the proposed weapons below:

Estoc
Polehammer
Zweihander (functionally a polearm)

I've excluded Warhammer since its description sounds more like a maul (a big sledgheammer) than a true warhammer (which was pretty much identical to a modern carpenter's claw hammer in size). Falchion and Scimitar are also excluded since their description suggests very blade-heavy characteristics.

In fact an important lore aspect of the class (one of the things drawn from HEMA/ARMA/WMA) is that it CAN use multiple weapons equally well (Weapon Synergy II and Expanded Synergy) because of their base similarities (IE in WMA, the longsword is used as a foundation for polearm, as that's effectively what half-swording is). Thus while the Fighter/WM is generally specialized, (because GWF, EWF, SWF, and the Weapon Specialization feats greatly discourage using other weapons) the MotLS can more readily use a variety of equipment.

One of the things I wanted to do was have certain feats that applied based on the specific weapon type (sword, polearm, dagger, the three primary weapons of WMA). IE, originally Coup-De-Gras was written to require a dagger be equipped as the main hand weapon, and I had another feat that would have been used when wielding a polearm, etc. So to fully enjoy the class benefits, the player would switch weapons based on circumstances. But that was shot down for being too complex.

[K'yon Oblodra]

First of all thanks for the highlighting. I'll check that out in a bit.

One of the things I wanted to do was have certain feats that applied based on the specific weapon type (sword, polearm, dagger, the three primary weapons of WMA). IE, originally Coup-De-Gras was written to require a dagger be equipped as the main hand weapon, and I had another feat that would have been used when wielding a polearm, etc. So to fully enjoy the class benefits, the player would switch weapons based on circumstances. But that was shot down for being too complex.

It wasn't shut down because of complexity but because of being OP, also there was an idea to just grant multiple weapon focus feats narrowed down to more similar weapons.

Not sure the others think alike but I have to say your way to respond to criticism lowers my will to help.

I understand it is very personal of one wants to introduce a class to the game but keep in mind that the people here giving you balance and other advise so this freely and might just lose interest.

[Ambaryerno]

First of all thanks for the highlighting. I'll check that out in a bit.

One of the things I wanted to do was have certain feats that applied based on the specific weapon type (sword, polearm, dagger, the three primary weapons of WMA). IE, originally Coup-De-Gras was written to require a dagger be equipped as the main hand weapon, and I had another feat that would have been used when wielding a polearm, etc. So to fully enjoy the class benefits, the player would switch weapons based on circumstances. But that was shot down for being too complex.

It wasn't shut down because of complexity but because of being OP, also there was an idea to just grant multiple weapon focus feats narrowed down to more similar weapons.

Not sure the others think alike but I have to say your way to respond to criticism lowers my will to help.

I understand it is very personal of one wants to introduce a class to the game but keep in mind that the people here giving you balance and other advise so this freely and might just lose interest.

The balance issue was when Expanded Synergy was part of the class progression as Weapon Synergy III. That went away when it became a separate feat available for selection with some stiff requirements.

[K'yon Oblodra]

You know part of my problem with your class is that there are so many feats it's really a lot of work to think about all of them combined to determine the classes stance on terms of balance.

I saw your comment on harness fighting I think the only way I could see you getting that in would be giving it a very stiff requirement, logical would be if the guy able to wear a heavy armor very proficiently would require a ton of strength on top of the dexterity requirement. However since the strength is also a great boon for a 2-hander using character I am not even sure QC would accept that seeing you might want to spend points in strength anyways.

[Ambaryerno]

You know part of my problem with your class is that there are so many feats it's really a lot of work to think about all of them combined to determine the classes stance on terms of balance.

I saw your comment on harness fighting I think the only way I could see you getting that in would be giving it a very stiff requirement, logical would be if the guy able to wear a heavy armor very proficiently would require a ton of strength on top of the dexterity requirement. However since the strength is also a great boon for a 2-hander using character I am not even sure QC would accept that seeing you might want to spend points in strength anyways.

Yeah, it's a real headache trying to figure out a way to implement it that both fits the class and what it's based on, as well as balancing it within DnD's combat mechanics. It would be a lot easier if DnD wasn't stuck on the AC system.

[Ambaryerno]

Anyway, I think for now just focus on what CAN be worked on. If a solution for Harness Fighting can be worked out that could be revisited later.

I wonder if it would help to whip up a hypothetical build to see how it would actually look. Ability scores, saves, skills, Feats (both progression and a selection of feats on level up) final AB, AC, etc. Could then run it through some hypothetical combat simulations.

Would have to do it by hand rather than through NWN2DB.