Update 66 Preview 2: Dragon Lord Fighter Archetype

[SteelStar]

Hello! Welcome to the second preview of the Dragon Lord archetype. Thank you for all of the feedback in round one! Most of the feedback was positive, and there were a lot of interesting ideas!

We haven't changed a lot with Preview 2 (outside of a lot of bugfixing), but have made the following changes:

• Untouchable Soul now properly gives full Displacement.
• Strike Twice and Shoot Twice have been reduced to +1/2/3% Doublestrike and Doubleshot, respectively.
• Draconic Outburst (STR trance) has been renamed to Might in Order.
• Might in Order (STR trance) no longer has an alignment restriction, and instead cannot be used while Raged.
  • (Known Issue: This can't be used in this preview, as it *always* believes you're raging. Which, while funny, will be fixed.)
• Draconic Outburst (CHA trance) has been renamed to Draconic Conviction.
• Draconic Conviction (CHA trance) no longer has an alignment restriction.
• Might in Order and Draconic Conviction now properly add to Attack.
• Dragon's Defense has had its Imbue Dice reduced from 2 to 1.
• Soul Sunder has had its Imbue Dice increased from 1 to 2.
• Dragon's Roar can now properly be used while Raging.
• Battlefield Tactician IV now has an immunity-stripping effect in addition to its previous effects. The ability now reads: "+1 to Tactical Feat DCs and Breath Weapon DCs. When you Sunder enemies, it makes them vulnerable to the element of your Draconic Soul for 10 seconds. Additionally, if you successfully Sunder (or Improved Sunder) a target under the effects of Trip (or Improved Trip), that target takes an additional 1d6 damage per Character Level of the Element of your Draconic Soul. This damage scales with 200% Melee or Ranged Power."
• Dragon's Roar now properly only applies a Cower effect if you actually have Improved Dragon's Roar as described.
• The release notes for the Dragon Lord tree now properly list the Ranged Power present in later Core abilities (it was correct in-game in Preview 1)
• Improved Dragon's Roar now adds "when you use Dragon's Roar, you gain a +20% Morale bonus to damage vs. Helpless targets for 20 seconds" to its existing effect.
• Fixed some text in Dragon Lord abilities
• Flight of Kings (T5 Leap) now properly applies its speed boost effect.

We made the following changes to Ravager, which apply to both the Dragon Lord AND Barbarian versions:

• Ravager's Visage of Terror now has a DC of (1d20 + Intimidate Score).
• Ravager's Visage of Terror no longer requires Rage Charges.
• Ravager's Cruel Cut now deals +20/30/40% damage in addition to its other effects.
• Ravager's Cruel Cut now has a 20 second cooldown (previously 30).

And the following changes exclusively to Dragon Lord's version of Ravager:

• Dragon Lord Ravager's Visage of Terror now has a 30 second cooldown, matching the Barbarian version (previously 36).
• Dragon Lord Ravager's Max HP and Healing Amplification bonuses from Cores in the tree have been reduced by 50% to better balance with their access to Stalwart Defender.

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Fighter Archetype: Dragon Lord

Overview:

Based on the Dragon Lord prestige class from 3.5e's Dragon Magic book, the Dragon Lord is a Fighter archetype that models their tactics after the ferocity of dragons to demoralize and subdue their enemies. They excel in crowd control, defense, and Draconic power.

Internal Design Goals

• Create an archetype that is Dragon-themed for the D&D anniversary
• Give an alternative take on Fighter
• Strong multiclass support

Class Trees:

• NEW: Dragon Lord
• Stalwart Defender
• NEW: Ravager
  • This is a modified version of Barbarian's Ravager tree, which does not give or rely on Rage. You cannot spend points in both this tree and Barbarian's version of Ravager at the same time.

Class Features Dropped vs. Base Fighter:

• Kensei, Vanguard trees.
• Dragon Lords do not innately get Shield Proficiency.
  • That said, you have Bonus Feats and could take Shield proficiency.
• Instead of a Fighter Bonus Feats at class level 1, 8, and 16, you take a Draconic Aura feat.

Class Features Gained vs. Base Fighter:

• Will Save Progression moves from "Poor" to "Good"

New Feats: Draconic Aura

• At levels 1, 8, and 16, Dragon Lords select a Draconic Aura Feat (instead of a Fighter Bonus Feat). You select one Basic Aura at level 1, one Secondary Aura at level 8, and one Tertiary Aura at level 16. These auras run constantly and simultaneously.
• It is intended that these Morale Bonuses do not stack with everything, especially low level spells - Upgrades in the Dragon Lord tree eventually help these exceed the bonuses of those spells. We do not intend to change this to a unique typing.
• Feats Available at DL 1: Basic Aura.
  • Nevalarich's Hunger: You and allies close to you get a +2 Morale Bonus to Attack Rolls
  • Aussircaex's Defiance: You and allies close to you get a +2 Morale Bonus to Saving Throws
  • Thraxata's Instinct: You and allies close to you get a +2 Morale Bonus to Tactical Feat DCs
• Feats Available at DL 8: Secondary Aura.
  • Velah's Fury: You and allies close to you get a +3 Morale Bonus to Damage Rolls
  • Sinvala's Toughness: You and allies close to you get a +3 Morale Bonus to PRR
  • Eternity's Ward: You and allies close to you get a +3 Morale Bonus to MRR
• Feats Available at DL 16: Tertiary Aura.
  • The Truthful One's Might: You and allies close to you get a +4 Morale Bonus to Melee Power
  • Aurgloroasa's Ascended Wrath: You and allies close to you get a +4 Morale Bonus to Ranged Power
  • Kor Kaza's Forbidden Power: You and allies close to you get a +4 Morale Bonus to Universal Spell Power

Unless specifically listed, assume the class is otherwise identical to Fighter.

Ravager Tree

This tree is identical to the Barbarian Ravager tree, with the following exceptions:

• All abilities that scale with Barbarian Level instead scale with Dragon Lord level.
• Dragon Lord Ravager's Max HP and Healing Amplification bonuses from Cores in the tree have been reduced by 50% to better balance with their access to Stalwart Defender.
• Core 1: Furious Rage: Does not require you to be Raging.
• Core 5: Subsiding Fury: Instead of triggering on Barbarian Rage, this triggers on using Second Wind.
• Tier 1: Barbarian Power Attack is renamed to not say barbarian.
• Tier 1: Hardy Rage is replaced with Extra Action Boost (+1/2/3).

General Ravager Changes in This Update

These apply to both Barbarian and Dragon Lord Ravager:

• Ravager's Visage of Terror now has a DC of (1d20 + Intimidate Score).
• Ravager's Visage of Terror no longer requires Rage Charges.
• Ravager's Cruel Cut now deals +20/30/40% damage in addition to its other effects.
• Ravager's Cruel Cut now has a 20 second cooldown (previously 30).

Dragon Lord Tree

• Cores
  • Core 1: Soul of the Dragon: Multiselector:
    • Pick a Draconic Soul to commune with, which will influence the rest of your power in this tree. Passive: You gain +1 to Tactical Feat DCs.
      • Red (Fire)
      • White (Cold)
      • Blue (Electric)
      • Black (Acid)
      • Green (Poison)
  • Core 2: Draconic Arms:
    • You gain an Imbue Toggle that adds 1d6 damage of the type you selected for your Draconic Soul to your Melee and Ranged Attacks. This damage scales with 200% of the higher of Melee and Ranged Power.
    • Passive: The bonus of all of your Draconic Auras increases by 1.
  • Core 3: Reckless Devotion:
    • Target Ally gains a Morale Bonus to Critical Confirmation and Critical Hit Damage equal to 1 + a quarter of your Dragon Lord level for 20 seconds. 40 second cooldown.
    • Passive: +5 Melee and Ranged Power, +1 Imbue Die, +3 to Critical Hit Confirmation and Damage.
  • Core 4: Conqueror's Command:
    • When you use Reckless Devotion, the power of your Draconic command grants that ally the effects of the Panacea spell, curing many afflictions and healing that ally for 1d6+2 Hit Points plus 1 per Dragon Lord level. This healing scales with 200% of Melee Power.
    • Passive: +1 Imbue Die, and the bonus of all of your Draconic Auras increases by 1.
  • Core 5: Dragon's Defense
    • While you have any Draconic Aura active, you and nearby allies gain a +3 Morale Bonus to Elemental Resistance for the element of your Draconic Soul and +5% Morale Bonus to Elemental Absorption of the element of your Draconic Soul.
    • Passive: +10 Melee and Ranged Power, +1 Imbue Die.
  • Core 6: Sunder Soul: Target Sundered enemy must make a Will saving throw (DC 10 + Highest of STR and CHA mod + Sunder bonuses) or have their Soul sundered, killing them instantly. If an enemy is killed by this, nearby enemies have a chance to be Cowered for 6 seconds with no save.
    • Passive: +2 Strength, +2 Charisma, +10 Melee and Ranged Power +2 Imbue Dice, and the bonus of all of your Draconic Auras increases by 2.
• Tier 1
  • Dragon's Protection I: You gain +3 Resistance to the element you selected for your Draconic Soul.
  • Battlefield Tactician I: +1 to Tactical Feat DCs.
  • Unbreakable Will: +1/2/3 Will Saving Throws
  • Skills: +1/2/3 to Intimidate, Jump, and Haggle. Rank 3: You gain +2 to Attack
  • Martial Superiority: Multiselector:
    • Deft Strikes: +3/6/10% Offhand Strike Chance (antireq: shintao/sacred fist deft strikes)
    • Improved Second Strikes: +5/10/20% Strikethrough (antireq: kotc improved second strikes)
    • Strike Twice: +1/2/3% Doublestrike
    • Shoot Twice: +1/2/3% Doubleshot
• Tier 2
  • Dragon's Protection II: You gain +3 Resistance to the element you selected for your Draconic Soul.
  • Battlefield Tactician II: +1 to Tactical Feat DCs.
  • Draconic Resilience: +2/4/6 Natural Armor
  • Action Boost: Multiselector:
    • Action Boost: Tactics: For 20 seconds, gain +3/6/9 Action Boost bonus to Sunder, Trip, and Stun DCs
    • Action Boost: Haste: Activate to gain +10%/+20%/+30% Action Boost bonus to attack speed for 20 seconds.
  • Dragonslayer: You gain Favored Enemy: Dragon
• Tier 3
  • Dragon's Protection III: You gain +3 Resistance and 5% Absorption to the element you selected for your Draconic Soul.
  • Battlefield Tactician III: +1 to Tactical Feat DCs and Breath Weapon DCs. When you attack with Trip or Sunder (or their Improved variants), you deal 1d4 additional damage per Character Level of the Element you selected for your Draconic Soul. This damage scales with 200% Melee or Ranged Power.
  • Dragon's Roar: Tactical Feat: Enemies in a cone ahead of you must make a Will Saving Throw (DC 10 + Highest of STR and CHA mod + Stunning bonuses + Breath Weapon DC Bonuses) or be Dazed for 6 seconds. Affected enemies have a 25% chance to be broken out of the Daze on damage. 20 second cooldown.
    • (Also note: This is a Tactical Feat, but you DON'T make an attack as part of this. No damage. Ranged-user friendly.)
  • Trance: Multiselector:
    • Might in Order: (Cannot be used while Raging) Battle Trance: You gain an Insight bonus to Attack, Damage and the DC of tactical feats equal to 1/2 of your Strength modifier for 30/60/120 seconds. Each time you successfully use Trip, Sunder, Stunning Blow, or Dragon's Roar (or their Improved variants), you have a chance to restore 1 charge.
    • Draconic Conviction: (No restrictions) Battle Trance: You gain an Insight bonus to Attack, Damage and the DC of tactical feats equal to 1/2 of your Charisma modifier for 30/60/120 seconds. Each time you successfully use Trip, Sunder, Stunning Blow, or Dragon's Roar (or their Improved variants), you have a chance to restore 1 charge.
  • Ability Score: Multiselector
    • STR
    • CHA
• Tier 4
  • Dragon's Protection IV: You gain +3 Resistance and 5% Absorption to the element you selected for your Draconic Soul.
  • Battlefield Tactician IV: +1 to Tactical Feat DCs and Breath Weapon DCs. When you Sunder enemies, it makes them vulnerable to the element of your Draconic Soul for 10 seconds. Additionally, if you successfully Sunder (or Improved Sunder) a target under the effects of Trip (or Improved Trip), that target takes an additional 1d6 damage per Character Level of the Element you selected for your Draconic Soul. This damage scales with 200% Melee or Ranged Power.
  • Untouchable Soul: You have Displacement, giving opponents a 50% chance to miss you due to concealment. This cannot be dispelled.
  • Lead the Charge:Melee Rush Attack: Rush forward up to 30 feet to your selected opponent and deliver a +20%/30%/50%[W] strike. 12 second cooldown. Shares cooldown with Shield Charge. Note: This works with any melee weapon, and not just a shield.
    • (This is identical to the KOTC one, though slightly higher up).
  • Ability Score: Multiselector
    • STR
    • CHA
• Tier 5
  • Soul Scales: You gain +15 Magical Resistance Rating. +25% Competence Bonus to Max HP, and you have a 5% chance to ignore damage of the element you selected for your Draconic Soul.
  • Tactical Commander: The cooldowns of your Trip, Sunder, Stunning Blow, and Dragon's Roar (and their Improved versions) are reduced by 33%.
  • Improved Dragon's Roar: Your Dragon's Roar now Cowers enemies instead of Dazing them. In addition, when you use Dragon's Roar, you gain a +20% Morale bonus to damage vs. Helpless targets for 20 seconds.
  • Flight of Kings: (antireq Dragonborn version of the same): "Memories of flight lie within you. You are able to leap through the air to bring the fight to your enemies or traverse chasms that make normal adventure balk. Cooldown: 15 Seconds. When you use Flight of Kings, you gain a +20% Action Boost bonus to movement speed for 6 seconds.
  • Conqueror: +1/2 Competence Bonus to Critical Multiplier with All Weapons.

Past Life:
You were a Dragon Lord in a past life. Others find you strangely compelling when you speak or take to the battlefield. Each time you acquire this feat you gain +1 Damage with Melee Weapons and +1 Breath Weapon DC. This feat can be stacked up to three times.

 

[Ying]

Do multiple Dragon Lord past lives work correctly now? They didn't in Preview 1, only one was recognized.

 

[Matuse]

Honestly I expected it to get a bit reduced from preview 1, but these are all solid improvements. This is going to be a beast of a class, even if it's not the greatest for thumping red/purple names compared to Kensai.

 

[FVSHasBeenEvenMoreGutted]

ok i like this even better, still got a few ideas

• this tree needs a bit more doublestrike/shot somewhere. i suggest adding 3% for the 5th and 6th core giving the tree 9% overall which isn't gamebreaking.
• i think lead the charge should be changed to be a bit more useful. make it an AoE sunder that works on the dragonlord stuff (but not trip/stun like dire charge)
• I think conquerers command should be the heal spell because panacea isn't great for healing. it wouldn't even be overpowered because you cant cast it on yourself
• I think dragons defense should give an additional +1 absorb and resist per bonus to dragonlord aura as 3 resist and 5 absorb isn't much
• battlefield tactician 3 should give 1d10 damage instead of 1d4
• battlefield tactician 4 should give 1d12 damage instead of 1d6

that's all the changes I have for dragonlord, but I have some for ravager for both class

• given the fact that the tree is leaning heavily into intimidate, give every core +2 intimidate and +2 saves vs fear
• demoralizing success DC is now d20+intimidate
• subsiding fury makes the stacks last 9 seconds instead of 6
• visage of terror gives +10 melee power
• barbarian power attack gets a multiselector for +1/2/3 imbue dice
• do you like pain changed to -25% ac (instead if flat 10 AC)
• mutilate does 1d2 cha damage per barbarian level and 1d10 per barb level
• cruel cut does 1d4 con damage per 2 barb levels
• aura of fear should be changed to something other than ability scores as its not very useful. I suggest rank 1 reduces enemy to hit by 1/2 barb level, rank 2 reduces monster damage by 1/2 barb level, and rank 3 reduces mob AC by 1/2 barb level
• festering wound does 1d10 poison damage per character level per stack
• new t4: Visage of fear: requires Fear Me!: When you use intimidate, enemies must make an additional will save (d20+intimidate) or be affected by the fear spell for 3 seconds.
• dismember increases melee power by 1/2 character level and always slows attacks/move speed and doesn't do the useless 2d8 bane damage
• New t5: Fear Itself: requires Visage of Fear: When you use intimidate enemies are now cowered for 3 seconds instead of afraid if they fail their save.
• critical rage now gives +5/+10 MP for rank 1 and 2 respectively

that's all for me, peace

 

[Aaabbbcccddd]

WOW!

Are we really saying Ravager Barbs need to invest in CHA now???

The changes to barb ravager VOT are a big nerf to that ability without it.

VOT to work effectively in high reaper required a significant CON investment, at a cost to STR and other DPS considerations. 1d20 plus Intim won't come close as a DC.

Making this change will simply shoehorn us away from Ravager to the cookie cutter DPS Barb.

Furthermore a capstone nerf in objectively the poorest barb tree this is extremely unwelcome.

If you need to make changes to shoehorn in the DL Ravager tree, fair enough.

Bur please, leave the barb ravager capstone alone. Baby and bathwater spring to mind.

Have you done your math right? It is way easier to get intim high than Con. You even get dc for favor rewards now.

 

[EinarMal]

So fighters get immunity strip but Warlock/Wizard no luck?

 

[Ying]

If devs weren't already aware, something funky is going on with the DL aura until you spend 1 AP in the DL tree. That white square is in game too.

 

[Ying]

Untouchable Soul: You have Displacement, giving opponents a 50% chance to miss you due to concealment. This cannot be dispelled.

Bug: The tooltip still incorrectly states 25%, and it does not apply 50% concealment to the character sheet "+" tab under Avoidance Defenses -> Concealment.

• Ravager's Cruel Cut now deals +20/30/40% damage in addition to its other effects.

The increased damage is not listed in the tooltip.

 

[LeoLionxxx]

We made the following changes to Ravager, which apply to both the Dragon Lord AND Barbarian versions:

• Ravager's Visage of Terror now has a DC of (1d20 + Intimidate Score).
• Ravager's Visage of Terror no longer requires Rage Charges.

Thematically and mechanically I like this DC being tied to intimidate. However, wouldn't this change break several existing barbarian builds that didn't invest in the skill?

What's the design goal behind the change? To ensure DragonLords can still use it even though they don't get tons of CON from rage?

Perhaps a Multisector between this and the old DC calc would be ideal.

 

[Polaco doido]

Apparently the battle trance (strength) might in order isn't working properly. It displays a message of being too enraged for doing so. However, checking all my gear and despite the fact that my stalwart defense was active it wouldn't work.

 

[Teh_Troll]

"Might in Order (STR trance) no longer has an alignment restriction, and instead cannot be used while Raged."

and there's the turd in the salad.

Garbage. PL and done trash class.

 

[Polaco doido]

Bug: The tooltip still incorrectly states 25%, and it does not apply 50% concealment to the character sheet "+" tab under Avoidance Defenses -> Concealment.


The increased damage is not listed in the tooltip.

neither the elemental resistance bonus.

 

[Chacka]

Hardy Rage gives no action boost charges
The core enhancements are supposed to increase your Draconic auras do not increase the Tharaxata's Instinct aura (+2 moral to tactical feat DCs)

(Still sad that there is still no way to play that class charisma-based if you care for tactical feats)

 

[PraetorPlato]

The STR trance just doesn't work right now, or I'm doing something wrong. I am in the Stalwart Defense stance so I cannot possibly be raged, but it tells me i am too enraged to use it. The aura rings look really cool though, and I am enjoying how the enhancements work.

Per first post, it's bugged on lam to think you're always angry.

 

[Ying]

Do multiple Dragon Lord past lives work correctly now? They didn't in Preview 1, only one was recognized.

Answering my own post, multple Dragon Lord past lives still do not stack. I TR'd as an 18 Dragon Lord that already had one DL past life, and still only have one DL past life.

Shouldn't it be listed as "Fighter (Dragon Lord) II" in the TR window since this is the second time I'm TRing as a Dragon Lord? If so, looks like that's the bug -- it isn't recognizing existing DL past lives in the TR window.

 

[Frantik]

If devs weren't already aware, something funky is going on with the DL aura until you spend 1 AP in the DL tree. That white square is in game too.

Oh come on now, SSG must know about this as they pretest any changes themselves before exporting them to Lamannia for us mere mortals?

 

[Jack Jarvis Esquire]

Have you done your math right? It is way easier to get intim high than Con. You even get dc for favor rewards now.

You're correct.

An ill-advised knee jerk reaction on my part.

In haste I treated intimidate as an ability score rather than a skill, thus diminishing it's DC in my thinking.

I withdraw my comments. Post deleted.

Apologies for my confusion folks.

 

[Jack Jarvis Esquire]

Thematically and mechanically I like this DC being tied to intimidate. However, wouldn't this change break several existing barbarian builds that didn't invest in the skill?

What's the design goal behind the change? To ensure DragonLords can still use it even though they don't get tons of CON from rage?

Perhaps a Multisector between this and the old DC calc would be ideal.

You are correct in that a change in investment will be needed on barb ravager builds who haven't already invested in intimidate and/or CHA.

That said there is potential for increased DC to Visage here and a worthy investment.

What it does mean is that CON need no longer be the primary ability for many Ravager builds. Allowing for more investment in STR and other DPS associated parameters.

It remains somewhat uncomfortable to me that this change to established barb builds is driven by the introduction of a new ostensibly unrelated fighter archetype, but it's a change that can be taken advantage of, nevertheless.

 

[Oliphant]

False Dragon.

 

[Shear-buckler]

I still don't get why you are shoehorning in the nerfed charisma based ravager in this archetype. It does not fit mechanically or thematically.