Van'adiel inspired additions (Pathfinder) (combat options)

First off, I'm planning to try setting up a game for my home group that will be set in an alternate version of Final Fantasy XI's Van'adiel. There are 3 basic things that I want to try to set up as options the players have at their disposal in addition to their normal classes. I'm calling them Battle Training, Tactical Points, and Weapon Skills (though this one isn't finished in my notes yet).

I haven't tested any of these yet and would seriously love some feedback.

Battle Training

The idea here is to give the players a set of options which function like extra archetypes to allow them to customize their characters a little more. The 6 battle training options should hopefully remain rather balanced with each other and allow for either fun and interesting options in developing a character or for ways to get the most out of their existing abilities.

I've based them for flavors sake on the 6 basic classes available in the original game and I might (though do not plan to) add advanced battle training options later as quest rewards.

I plan to allow players to change their battle training when they level, so that they can freely allow characters in the group to retire (or be killed) without feeling like they've locked their character into one specific path (or in case they decide they want to change their role in combat for role-play purposes).

I would like to have new abilities at odd levels, though I might need input on some of them and I only have things in mind up to level 5 at the moment.

So, based on the Warrior I have Line Fighter:

Defender's Mark: From level 1 onward a character with Line Fighter Battle Training can use a swift action to mark a number of targets he struck in battle equal to the number of attacks allowed by his base attack modifier. Marked opponents suffer a penalty of -2 if they make any attacks that do not include you as a target. A marked opponent with an intelligence score is away of this penalty. In addition, if a market opponent you threaten attacks an ally while suffering the -2 penalty they also provoke an attack of opportunity from you. A Mark persists until the start of your next turn.

Cover Ally: From level 3 onward a line fighter may use an immediate action to throw themselves between an adjacent ally and an attack. The attacker gains a 20% chance to strike the Line Fighter instead of their original target, in which case the attack must beat the Line Fighter's AC to deal damage. If the Line Fighter is using a shield then their ally gains the Line Fighter's shield bonus as a deflection bonus to their AC until the end of the Line Fighter's turn. This ability must be used after the attack is declared but before the result of the roll is known. Using this ability consumes one of the Line Fighter's attacks of opportunity for the round.

Hold the Line: From level 5 onward any target marked by the Line Fighter treats all squares the Line Fighter threatens as difficult terrain as long as they remain marked.

Inspired by the game's Monk class there is the Martial Artist:

Ki Boost At level 1, You gain a Ki pool of 1, if at a later time you gain a Ki pool as a feature of your class then this point remains as a bonus to that ki pool and your classes' ki abilities and it may be used on other Ki abilities as usual.

So long as you have at least 1 ki point in your pool you may use a Movement Action to perform a Ki Boost. Your next single attack gains a +1 bonus to hit and damage. Performing a Ki Boost does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

If you expend a Ki point while performing a Ki Boost it instead uses a Swift action. The +1 Boost to attack and Damage now applies to all attacks you make until the beginning of your next turn.

Knock back blow Starting at Level 3 you may spend a movement action to set extra momentum into your next attack. On a successful attack you may then make an immediate Bull Rush Combat Maneuver against your struck opponent, though you may only move them a maximum of 10' if using a 2 handed weapon and 5' if not. If not using a 2 handed weapon you count as one size category smaller than normal for the purposes of calculating your CMB. Your Bull Rush does not provoke an attack of opportunity, however your Movement action wind up does.

This ability may be used as part of a partial charge Standard action, doing so provides you with a +2 bonus to your CMB from the additional momentum.

Counter Starting at 5th level you can punish opponents who make poorly places attacks on you. Once per round you may make a counter attack against an opponent who has missed you in Melee combat. Doing so interrupts your defensive positioning an confers a -2 penalty to your AC until the start of your next turn. It also requires one use of an Attack of Opportunity.

Inspired by the Thief class - Reconnaissance:

Hit the Deck At level 1 you may, as an immediate action you may expend one attack of opportunity to throw yourself to the ground causing one attack against you, which was not a critical hit, to automatically miss. You may choose to use this after the hit is confirmed but before damage is rolled. At the end of your use of this ability you are left prone.

Sneaky Attacks At level 3 you gain the Sneak attack class feature allowing you to deal +1d6 sneak attack damage to flanked or flat footed foes if you did not already posses it. If you do already posses it you instead gain the ability deal sneak attack damage to opponents who are not flanked or flatfooted a number of times per day equal to your Dexterity modifier. Declaring the use of this ability is a Free action and may be declared after the attack has connected but before damage is rolled.

Trick Attack At level 5 you gain the ability to perform a Trick Attack with any weapon you can apply the weapon finesse feat to a number of times per day equal to your dexterity modifier. On this attack you deal extra damage equal to your Dexterity modifier in addition to any damage you would normally do. This damage is multiplied in the event of a critical hit.


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As this post is getting long I'll end it with some notes and reserve 3 posts following for the 3 Magic oriented Battle Training, Tactical Points and Weapon Skills, and Skill chains (which I want to include but think might need to find a way to make simpler).

Reserved for Battle Training part II

Disciple of the Light.

Mystic Savant

Arcane Bombardier

Reserved for Tactical Points and Weapon Skills

Reserved for Skill Chains.


The basic idea of Skill Chains I really liked. The idea was that in a longer fight, if players coordinated in battle they could create an opportunity to boost each other's damage potential. It was a very MMO themed mechanic, but it was also a very fun mechanic and was in many ways the sole reason I keep thinking of the game-play in FFXI.

I would love to find a way to bring that sort of tactical reward into the game, though I'm not sure how.

The basic idea-theme is that some powerful attacks have certain energy affinities, and when they are used in conjunction with each other they create a magical affect for some extra damage. If a spell of the correct energy type is cast through this effect it gets enhances as well.

When I get the TP and weapon skills up there will be more of a foundation to work on this, but I have the feeling it will be too much work for not enough reward and it will only start showing up in battles that have gone on for a decent length of time. The other reason I wanted to include this system is that I plan to give this option to smarter enemies as well, making enemy minions dangerous additions to battle.

I'll have more on this later.