The Book of Battle Mastery
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The Book of Battle Mastery Expanded Options for Martial Characters Version 1.1 Contents Introduction 3 Credits Using This Book 3 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, New Conditions 3 Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, the dragon ampersand, and all Addled 3 other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their Dazed 3 respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in Weakened 3 the USA and other countries. This work contains material Optional Rules 3 that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Exhaustion Recovery 3 Grapple Reversal 3 Contributors: Stealth Knockout 3 Michael Anderson, Richard Dennis, Mark Perez Weapon Interactions 3 Chapter 1: Class Options 4 Art Assets: Stains Templates by AeronDrake New Fighting Styles 4 (Cover) Green & Gold Knight by Kekai Kotaki Marauder 4 (pg5) Dungeon by Antonio Manzanedo Saddlebound 4 (pg6) Tavern Brawlers by Sam Wood Expanded Classes 4 (pg9) Great Battle by Julia “Gellihana” Alex Table: Combat Superiority 4 (pg11) Fat Aloisus by Slawomir Maniak Expanded Maneuvers 4 (pg13) Lady of the Blade by Yagaminoue Variant: Maneuver Training 4 (pg14) Orc Queen by Bayard Wu Maneuver List 5 (pg15) Celtic Barbarian by Will O'Brien Table: Exclusive Maneuvers 5 (pg19) Dragonborn by William O'Connor 5 Maneuver Descriptions (pg20) Assassin's Creed Revelations: Templar's Weapons Martial Schools 6 by Antoine Rol Standard Maneuvers 5 (pg22) The Adventures of Abdi by Olga Dugina & Andrej Stance Maneuvers 10 Dugin Banner Maneuvers 12 (pg23) Monk vs Skeleton by Claudio Pozas (pg24) Reaping Mauler by Steve Prescott 15 Chapter 2: Revised Armory (pg27) Tiefling Sketch by Tomasz Chistowski Armors and Shields 15 New Proficiencies 15 Table: Armors and Shields 16 Made with War Paint 15 "The Hombrewery" Light Armor 16 v2.7.4 Medium Armor 17 Heavy Armor 17 Shields 17 Equipping Armor 17 Variant: Equipment Sizes 17 Table: Donning & Doffing Armor 18 Weapons 18 Weapon Proficiency 18 Table: Simple Weapons 18 Table: Martial Weapons 20 Weapon Properties 18 Variant: Alternating Damage Types 19 Weapon Descriptions 21 Reflavoring Weapons 21 Improvised Weapons 23 Table: Improvised Weapon Damage 23 Silvered Weapons 23 Unarmed Strikes 23 Chapter 3: Martial Feats 24 Table: Revised Feats 24 CONTENTS 2 Introduction wo fighters duel within the great coliseum, a A dazed creature cannot take reactions. human of the duelist school and a dwarf from The creature has disadvantage on Dexterity ability checks the school of brawlers. The duelist attacks his and saving throws. opponent with unerring precision, weakening If the creature tries to move more than half it's speed on her with every strike, but the dwarf is hardy, any turn, it immediately falls prone. It can then crawl or gritting through the pain and using her spiked stand up and continue moving if it has any movement left. fists to land hammering blows of her own. In a T Weakened gambit she opens her defenses, hoping to draw her foe close. This condition represents a character who's strength or The human sees the opportunity and moves in, then suddenly capacity for physical exertion is compromised, possibly as the finds himself locked in his opponent's grip and crushed result of muscle strain or nerve damage. against the spikes of her armor. Before he can regain his composure the brawler slams him to the ground, the pain of A weakened creature deals half damage on all weapon the impact paralyzing him where he lies. Her gamble a attacks. success, the dwarf draws her warhammer and in one The creature has disadvantage on Strength ability checks devastating strike the battle is over. and saving throws. This document attempts to improve the martial character Whenever the creature makes a weapon attack roll or experience in several ways, from expanding upon existing Strength ability check, it loses 1d6 hit points. mechanics such as martial maneuvers to diversifying available armor and weapon options. This content is Monster Immunities designed assuming all officially published materials up to Consider a creature's existing statistics when deciding how to Xanathar's Guide to Everything are in play. Unearthed grant immunities to these new conditions. For example, creatures with an Intelligence score of 4 or below would likely Arcana material is not considered, unless otherwise noted. not possess the presence of mind to be Addled. Those immune to being Stunned would also possess a physiology immune to being Dazed. Finally, a creature that cannot Using This Book experience Exhaustion would also be unable to feel Weakened. This document is divided into four parts; this introduction and three chapters. Chapter 1 contains class options for the Barbarian, Optional Rules Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger and Rogue, primarily in the These rules, while not strictly necessary for any material form of access to and an expanded list of martial maneuvers. contained in the following chapters, can serve to improve Chapter 2 is a revision of the armor and weapons available general gameplay options for martial oriented characters. in the Player's Handbook, adding several new armor and Exhaustion Recovery weapons along with new properties. At the end of a short rest, you can expend five hit dice and Chapter 3 is a list of new and revised feats and designed to forgo rolling to instead remove one level of exhaustion and be compatible with the material presented in the previous regain hit points equal to five times your Constitution two chapters. modifier. You can't expend hit dice in this way again until you In this introduction are a few general rules designed to complete a long rest. complement the features in following chapters. Grapple Reversal Whenever you make a Strength ability check to avoid being New Conditions grappled or to escape a grapple and you succeed, you can use These new conditions are designed primarily for the new a reaction to automatically grapple the creature that failed, material presented in this document, though they can easily but only if you would normally be able to attempt a grapple be extended to the larger game at your DM's discretion. on the creature. Addled Stealth Knockout This condition represents a character who's ability to When you hit a surprised humanoid creature you are hidden concentrate or think clearly is hampered, possibly as the from with a bludgeoning melee weapon you are proficient in, result of a head injury or overwhelming distraction. instead of dealing damage you can attempt to knock it An addled creature has disadvantage on Intelligence unconscious. The target must make a DC 10 Constitution ability checks and saving throws, and on Constitution saving throw, and on a failure it is knocked unconscious for saving throws made to maintain concentration. 4d4 minutes. The creature is instantly awakened if it takes Whenever the creature attempts to cast a spell, it must damage or another creature uses an action to awaken them. make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the Weapon Interactions spell's level to concentrate on casting. On a failure the On your turn, you can draw a non-heavy weapon you are casting is unsuccessful and the spell slot is lost. proficient in as part of each attack you make. This action Dazed does not use your one use of the "interact with an object" This condition represents a character that has become action as detailed on page 190 of the Player's Handbook. If disoriented or clumsy, possibly as the result of a jarring blow you wish to sheath a weapon you are holding or draw a heavy or sudden lurching motion. weapon, you must still use that action. INTRODUCTION 3 Chapter 1: Class Options etailed in this chapter are a series of changes to A character can retrain any known maneuvers when existing classes intended to lend a greater gaining a level in any class that grants maneuvers. If you degree of customization and tactical decision multiclass into a class that grants more maneuvers or making. In particular martial maneuvers have superiority dice than the class levels you already possess, you been modified to become a "spellbook" gain a number of both equal to the difference at the appro– equivalent for several classes. priate level. If either class uses different die sizes for their D superiority dice, use the larger for all of your superiority dice. New Fighting Styles The following options have been added to the list of Fighting Expanded Maneuvers Styles available to the Fighter, Paladin and Ranger classes. To complement the expanded access to maneuvers, the list of Marauder. When you make a ranged attack with a thrown martial maneuvers has been greatly expanded to include a weapon on your turn, you can use a bonus action to draw larger variety of choices. another weapon and move up to half your speed. The basic structure of a maneuver is largely unchanged; Saddlebound. While you are mounted, your mount gains a they remain an assortment of special techniques that can be +2 bonus to AC. spontaneously activated to enhance an action, such as an Additionally, mounting or dismounting a creature costs you attack roll or movement. Maneuvers expend Superiority only 5 feet of movement and you have advantage on saving Dice, which return after finishing a short or long rest. Some throws made to avoid falling off your mount. If you do fall off maneuvers require the target make a saving throw, the DC of your mount and descend no more than 10ft, you can land on which is calculated as follows: your feet if you're not incapacitated. Maneuver save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice) This feat is similar to the Cavalier's Born to the Saddle feature.