Previous Hundred Dungeons posts:
The Wild (wilderness exploration)
The Dark (dungeon exploration)
Recuperation (resting and downtime)
It’s “fighter” day! Some significant redesigns here, starting with the name. I want to emphasize that this isn’t just a person who fights. This is someone who comes to understand the nature of war and leadership. The design goals for this post are the same as previous classes:
Simplify in-game decision points
Condense the 20 levels down to 10 that cover a similar spread of power
Work in more “always on” features
Balance the pillars (which means removing some combat stuff and replacing it with features that showcase exploration and social activity)
Getting a warrior to focus on pillars other than combat is harder than it seems, especially when the alternative is spamming bonuses to social rolls. What results below is an effort to make the Warrior an incomparable combat class while making room for them to shine in the Wild and the Dark as well.
WARRIOR
Daring in exploits, warriors are skilled fighters and tacticians who lead others to greatness. Their courage, intuition, and discipline extend beyond the battlefield to the expedition, the court, and the communities they look after.
Whether hardened mercenaries, village officers, or jovial travelers, warriors are a symbol of the struggle for peace. They show others what’s worth fighting for.
Ability Increase: Strength
Skills: Assess Threat, Sure Footing, Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons, Heavy Weapons, Light Armor, Martial Armor, Heavy Armor, Shields
…and one skill of your making
Hit Dice: d10
Starting Hit Points: 10 + Constitution score
Starting Gear:
Backpack
Pouch
Martial weapon (your choice)
Simple weapon (your choice)
Leather plate
10 silver
EXPLOITS
RALLY
Level 1
After taking a Combat action, spend hit dice to heal as you would after a short rest, then take a second action. This exploit replenishes when you finish a short or long rest.
Fighting Style
Level 2
Choose Archery, Dual Wielding, Power, or Protection. Your Fighting Style grants unique exploits at levels 2, 4, 6, and 9.
Archery, Level 2: When wielding ranged weapons, you can double their normal range. When you target something beyond the weapon’s normal range, your attack is weak.
Archery, Level 4: You ignore the effects of partial cover when making ranged attacks. Gain the skill Sharpshooter.
Archery, Level 6: You may make a mighty attack with a normal roll instead. If you hit, roll your damage dice twice and keep the higher result. If your target was an object that’s carried, worn, or displayed, you can hit it with flawless accuracy instead. The object is knocked up to 30 feet from whatever carried, wore, or displayed it.
Archery, Level 9: Your ranged weapons score a critical hit when the result on the die is 18-20.
—
Dual Wielding, Level 2: You can wield a martial melee weapon in each hand, even if it doesn’t have the Light trait. When you do, you can attack with either weapon as a quick action. You can draw or stow a weapon up to two times on a turn without needing to use a quick action.
Dual Wielding, Level 4: You gain a +1 bonus to your defense while wielding a melee weapon in each hand. Gain the skill Disarm Foe.
Dual Wielding, Level 6: You can perform feats of astounding ambidexterity. You gain the skills Sly Misdirection and Trick Swordplay.
Dual Wielding, Level 9: When a melee attack would hit you, make an attack roll as a reaction. If your attack roll is higher than the incoming attack, the attack misses and yours hits instead.
—
Power, Level 2: You have a +2 bonus to damage rolls with melee weapons.
Power, Level 4: When you attack with a melee weapon, you can choose to suffer a -5 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, add your warrior level to the damage. Gain the skill Intimidation.
Power, Level 6: When you hit a Medium or smaller creature with a Heavy weapon, you can force the target you attacked this turn to roll Constitution at 10 + double your renown or become stunned until the beginning of its next turn.
Power, Level 9: When your melee attack reduces a target to 0 hit points, any damage left over is inflicted on another target within your reach. This can carry over to as many targets as it takes to inflict all the damage.
—
Protection, Level 2: You have a +1 bonus to your defense while wielding a shield or wearing heavy armor.
Protection, Level 4: When an ally within your reach is targeted by an attack, you can use your reaction to make the attack weak. You gain the skill Shield Master.
Protection, Level 6: You can use a quick action to leverage your armor or shield for an unarmed attack. If it hits, the unarmed attack includes both the Damage and Shove effects.
Protection, Level 9: If you’re wielding a shield or wearing heavy armor when you roll Dexterity or Constitution to avoid an effect that inflicts half damage on a success, you take no damage if you succeed, and only half damage if you fail.
Quick Attack
Level 3
You can attack with any weapon as a quick action.
INDOMITABLE
Level 5
When you roll an ability and fail or dislike the result, you become inspired and may immediately turn over that inspiration to reroll. You can use this exploit a number of times equal to your renown. It replenishes when you finish a long rest. You gain the skill Inspiring Leader.
COMBAT MANEUVERING
Level 7
When you use your Rally exploit, allies you choose within 30 feet who can hear and see you may use their reaction to either make a weapon attack or move their speed.
Extra Attack
Level 8
When you use a quick action to attack, you can attack twice as part of that action.
UNSHAKEN
Level 8
Spend 1 minute giving a speech to enhearten your allies, then choose remove the charmed, exhaustion, frightened, incapacitated, and stunned conditions from yourself and up to 3 creatures who heard the speech.
UNYIELDING COMMAND
Level 10
Your ability scores each increase by 1, to a maximum of 6.
Allies who have fought beside you share your positive reputation with factions and NPCs.
NEXT TIME
Wizard is next, and that’s the batch. Thanks for taking a look at these designs. I’ll admit to being very excited to be finished working through the first rounds of edits and getting them posted!
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
Hundred Dungeons is created and written by Graham Ward © 2023
Permission granted to copy for personal use only.
THE WARRIOR
| EXP Required | Warrior Level | Hit Dice | Exploits | Traits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Renown 1 | +1 Strength |
Soldier of Fortune | ||
| — | 1 | 1d10 | Rally | |
| 2 | 2 | 2d10 | Fighting Style | |
| 3 | 3 | 3d10 | Quick Attack | |
| 4 | 4 | 4d10 | Fighting Style | |
| Renown 2 | +1 to any ability score |
Lead By Example | ||
| 5 | 5 | 5d10 | Indomitable | |
| 6 | 6 | 6d10 | Fighting Style | |
| 7 | 7 | 7d10 | Combat Maneuvering | |
| Renown 3 | +1 to any ability score |
Celebrated Hero | ||
| 8 | 8 | 8d10 | Extra Attack, Unshaken | |
| 9 | 9 | 9d10 | Fighting Style | |
| Renown 4 | +1 to any ability score |
Triumphant Banneret | ||
| 10 | 10 | 10d10 | Unyielding Command |
