S&B Universal Tree!

[Crustbucket]

Would love to have just a generic Sword and shield universal tree for all classes! I post this quite often but just keeping the thought alive. Let me know if anyone has tree suggestions or a direction for this but a basic universal combat tree would be wonderful!

Some baselines i think would make this tree work well:
Tree would provide very generalized but small amounts of HP/MRR/PRR/ATTACK/DAMAGE
Cores would provide some HP, some defenses and %Attack speed with shield equipped.
%HP bonus/Doublestrike at T5 with a block and cut ability similar to Stalwart Defender
Capstone would be HP/PRR/MRR/CON.

Tree would NOT have bonuses to CRIT RANGE OR MULTI! I believe these should be found in the classes and are far leaning into an offensive kind of benefit here. As well as very very sparse HAMP benefits as a shield does not honestly add healing. Armor class would be an oddity here as it is important but armor/feats usually help this along.

 

[droid327]

If you're not putting crit in T5 then you definitely need something else there to make anyone consider taking it. The logical thing would be to put some serious tanking abilities in T5, making T5 an alternative to Stal/Sac def for tanks, who wont care about losing crit profile. Otherwise you're basically handcuffed to VKF or Holy Sword, and that's not really a good thing for a Universal tree.

So threat gen, HP, PRR/MRR, and maybe a bubble or an auto self-rez

Otherwise yeah, I like the idea of a general S&B balanced offense/defense tree. The trick is going to be adding enough meaningful defense to make it worth giving up the offense of SWF or true THF.

You're also gonna have to come up with a few active attacks to define the playstyle, no one's going to want to build around a playstyle that's entirely passive bonuses. Maybe a "baby Dire Charge" style attack, and a shield throw that does a Bash at range, and improves at T4 with chain multihit.

And totally randomly, it might be cool if there was an aura - lets call it Phalanx - that gave you a defensive bonus, and stacked with how many other Phalanxes were in range. So a full party with Phalanx would get a huge defensive bonus.

 

[spoonyrey]

Would love to have just a generic Sword and shield universal tree for all classes!

<3 this.

A universal tree for Sword & Board is a really great idea. The way light weapons & bucklers were incorporated into the Swashbuckler tree was brilliant & I always hoped Sword & Board as a whole would be expanded upon as well. From a player/non-developer perspective, building on the existing foundation - the gameplay elements you mentioned & the 250+ shields available in game - seems like a great way to refresh gameplay & add depth with minimal/reasonable resource investment.

Really great suggestion, supported by multiple players. =p

 

[Varthalos]

Universal S&B tree is a cool idea. It should come along with some PLs associated with it to give us something to do! Or maybe uber completionist.

 

[unbongwah]

I'd settle for turning Vanguard into a Universal tree; then giving fighters and paladins a new tree to make up for it. So anybody who wants to run a S&B Eldritch Knight, Warpriest, etc. can get some extra oomph.

 

[droid327]

I'd settle for turning Vanguard into a Universal tree; then giving fighters and paladins a new tree to make up for it. So anybody who wants to run a S&B Eldritch Knight, Warpriest, etc. can get some extra oomph.

Except I dont think Vanguard, as-is, would really be enough to entice people to build around it. Its not a very good tree on its own merit, outside the attack speed in the upper cores, and maybe Deflect Arrows.

So you'd basically have to overhaul it into something fundamentally different, anyway

 

[cursedblessedone]

I vote for Cavalier for a new Universal Tree and on top of Sword and Shield, and perhaps Javelins and introduce mounted combat finally since SSG seems so focused on mounts make them able to already now, have to use Pale Master Death Auras, Warlock Aura, or Magus Aura to simulate mounted combat.