(Feat) Combat maneuvers for everyone

Hey there.

For my game, I wanted to add some options for non-battlemaster classes to spice up combat a bit. Thus, I created the following combat maneuvers. Most of them are based on the battlemaster’s maneuvers, but some are original.

I am worried about how unbalanced they may be. I would appreciate any comments regarding them. Is there any in particular that is OP? Any in particular that is too weak?

Thank you!

Spoiler

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Maneuver Adept Feat

You learn three combat maneuvers from list below. Maneuvers are special actions that you can use in place of your attack action. You also gain three maneuver dice (1d4). Maneuver dice are expended when you use a maneuver. Expended dice return after a short or long rest. You can pick this feat multiple times; each time you gain three maneuver dice and learn three new combat maneuvers.

Maneuvers:
Some maneuvers require specific weapons. The type of weapon required is written in parenthesis next to the maneuver's name. If a maneuver requires a saving throw, the DC is 8 + proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice), unless otherwise stated. Some saving DC are based on the amount of damage you make with the attack; for this, count only the damage from your weapon, your ability score and the maneuver dice (if applicable). Damage from other sources (such as sneak attack, weapon magical effects or divine smite) do not count.

Sand Throw (Any non-ranged)
You can expend one of your maneuver dice to try to blind a creature by throwing sand, dirt, or the like. If the attack hits, you deal only the maneuver die plus your Strenght or Dexterity modifier as damage, and the target must make a Constitution saving throw equal to 8 + the rolled damage. On a failed save, you target is blinded until the end of its next turn.

Weapon Throw (Any non-ranged)
You can throw your weapon, even if it has not the thrown property. It has a range of 20/60, or 10/30 if it has the Heavy property. If the weapon is Light, you may draw it as part of the attack. You add the maneuver die to the attack’s damage roll.

Repositioning Attack (Any non-heavy)
You can expend one maneuver die to force the target to switch places with you. If your attack hits, you add the maneuver die to the attack’s damage roll, and you and the target switch places. The target must be within 5 feet of you, regardless of your weapon’s reach.

Flying Kick (Unarmed)
By expending one maneuver die, you can move as part of your attack. Make a Dexterity (Acrobatics) roll, with DC equal to the distance you want to move (in feet), and add the maneuver die to the roll. On a success, you can move up to the desired distance before attacking without provoking opportunity attacks. On a failure by 5 or less, your attack automatically misses, and you move only 5 feet. On a failure by more than 5, your attack automatically misses, you move 5 feet and you fall prone.

Somersault (Unarmed)
With a display of acrobatics, you hit and retreat back to safety. If the attack hits, add the maneuver die to the damage roll, and make a Dexterity (Acrobatics), with a bonus to the roll equal to the number rolled in the maneuver die. As part of the attack, you can move up to a number of feet equal to the half the Dexterity roll, without provoking attacks of opportunity.

Straight Kick (Unarmed)
While your enemy is busy deflecting your arms, you take the chance to unleash a mighty frontal kick. Add the maneuver die to the attack roll, and if the attack hits and the target is within one size category of you, it pushes it away from you 5 feet.

Pin Down (Unarmed)
If your attack hits, you can use a bonus action to grapple the target (see chapter 9 in the Player’s Handbook for rules on grappling) and pin him down. Add the maneuver die to your Strength (Athletics) check. The target is also restrained while grappled this way.

Quick Draw (Any slashing)
With blinding speed you slash at unprepared foes. If the attack hits, you add the maneuver die to the attack's damage roll. If this attack is made against an enemy that has yet to act for the first time in combat, you deal extra damage equal to 2d4.

Break the Stance (Two-handed, Bludgegoing)
Your mighty blows leave your opponent's defenses wide open. If your attack hits, add the maneuver die to the damage roll. The next attack roll against the target by an attacker other than you has advantage if the attack is made before the start of your next turn.

Rend Armor (Two-handed, Slashing)
With a powerful swing of your weapon, you damage the enemy's armor. If your attack hits, add the maneuver die to the damage roll. If the enemy is wearing armor (man-made or natural), it gets a cummulative -1 AC (to a maximum of the armor AC bonus). A mending spell removes this penalty.

Pierce (Two-handed, Piercing)
With a precise strike, you leave a nasty wound on your enemy. f your attack hits, add the maneuver die to the damage roll, and the target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, it receives 1d4 damage every time it uses his move action. The target can repeat the saving at the end of each of his turns to end this effect. Receiving at least 1 HP of magical healing also ends this effect.

Evasive Attack (Any non-heavy)
After attacking, you roll one maneuver die, adding the number rolled to your AC until the beginning of your next turn.

Relentless Attack (Any non-ranged)
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one maneuver die to attempt to goad the target into attacking you. You add the maneuver die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls against targets other than you until the end of your next turn.

Stylish Flourish (Any)
Your fancy maneuvers invigors your allies. You add the maneuver die to the attack's damage roll, and any ally in a radius 30 feet that can see you gains temporary hit points equal to the damage done divided by 5 (minimum 1 point). If the attack felled the enemy, double the amount of temporary hit points gained.

Lunging Attack (Any non-light)
You lunge forward to extend the range of your weapon by 5 feet. If you hit, you add the maneuver die to the attack's damage roll.

Brutal Attack (Any)
Your brutal attacks frigthen your enemies. You add the maneuver die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw, with a DC equal to the damage done with your attack (to a maximum of 20). On a failure, the target is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

Precision Attack (Any single-handed)
When you make a weapon attack roll against a creature, you can expend one maneuver die to add it to the roll. You can use this maneuver before or after making the attack roll, but before any effects of the attack are applied.

Pushing Attack (Any heavy)
Your attacks force your enemies to step back. If the attack hits, you add the maneuver die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw, with a DC equal to the damage done with your attack (to a maximum of 20). On a failed save, you push the target up to a number of feet equal to half the damage done away from you.

Tide of Steel (Any non-ranged, non-light)
You leash against all enemies surrounding you, pushing them back. If the attack hits, the target and all enemies within reach must succeed on a Strength saving throw, with a DC equal to 8 + your Strength modifier + maneuver die or be pushed away 10 feet.

Cleaving Attack (Any heavy)
With a powerful blow you continue your attack, hurting nearby foes. If your attack hits, choose another creature within your reach. If the original attack roll would hit the second creature, it takes damage equal to the maneuver die plus one fifth of the damage done to by the original attack (rounded down). The damage is of the same type dealt by the original attack.

Ricochet (Any ranged)
With an impressive display of dexterity, you can make your ranged attacks reach even unreachable places. If you can trace a path from you to the target with a single inflection angle of up to 180 degrees, you can ignore the target’s half-cover or three-quarters cover; or if the target is behind full-cover, you can treat it as half-cover instead. If the attack hits, you add the maneuver die to the attack's damage roll.

Snipe (Any ranged, or any light)
You aim at specific body parts of your opponent, reducing his combat capabilities in different ways. As part of the attack, choose a body part of your opponent to target.
Head: You add the maneuver roll to the attack’s damage roll. If your attack roll beats the enemy’s AC by 5 or more, you double the result of the maneuver die roll.
Body: You add the maneuver roll to the attack roll.
Legs/Wings: If the attack hits, the target must make a Constitution saving throw, with a DC equal to 8 + Dexterity + maneuver die. On a failure, the target’s speed is reduced by half. The target can repeat the saving at the end of each of his turns to end this effect. Receiving at least 1 HP of magical healing also ends this effect.
Arms/Other limbs: If the attack hits, the target must make a Constitution saving throw, with a DC equal to 8 + Dexterity + maneuver die. On a failure, the target’s receives a -2 penalty to his attack rolls when using that particular limb as part of the attack. The target can repeat the saving at the end of each of his turns to end this effect. Receiving at least 1 HP of magical healing also ends this effect.

Trip Attack (Any non-heavy)
With swift swordplay, you can bring your enemies down to their knees. If the attack hits, you add the maneuver die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength or Dexterity saving throw (up to the target), with a DC equal to the damage done with your attack (to a maximum of 20). On a failed save, you knock the target prone.

What motivated you to 'brew these up in the style of battlemaster manoeuvres while not actually being battlemaster manouevres?

As a general remark, I would change how the manoeuvres are usable such that you can use them by foregoing a weapon attack when you take the Attack action, instead of in place of the action itself. Otherwise, the utility of such effects falls away very quickly once Extra Attack comes online.

Thank you! Using them in place of attacks was my intention, but I must have gotten the wording wrong.

What I didn't like about the Martial Adept feat that lets you use battlemaster's maneuvers is that you only get one superiority dice. Plus, I wanted something to differentiate them, to avoid an overlap in case someone actually wanted to play a BM.

Okay, so looking at manoeuvres. I'll only comment on any if I have something to say. If I would just say "it's fine" without any clarifying remarks, I won't write anything at all.

First, a general remark on saving throws: having defined a generic saving throw DC to use, you really should just stick with it. Anything where the saving throw replaces your proficiency bonus with the manoeuvre die will be a little too good early on, and far behind the DC curve at high levels.

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Sand Throw: I would consider allowing this to either require only an attack roll or a saving throw, but not both.

Weapon Throw: It's clear from context that this attack isn't treating the weapon as an improvised weapon, but it might be for the best, all the same, to explicitly specify that (a) you are proficient with the attack roll, and (b) you roll the weapon's normal damage die on a hit.

Repositioning Attack: This is fine, although the wording is a bit clunky. Maybe try:

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When attacking a creature within 5 feet of you, you can expend one maneuver die to make a repositioning attack. On a hit, add the maneuver die to the attack's damage, and you and the target switch places.

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Flying Kick: This is giving you a bunch of extra movement, potentially. I'm a bit concerned that someone who has, say, grabbed a level of rogue for expertise in Acrobatics could get some serious mileage out of this. I would consider capping the additional movement at 10 or 15 feet. After all, in theory, you could use this multiple times in a round (twice if you're a monk).

Somersault: Okay, this is almost identical to flying kick in terms of its effect; the movement is just happening after the attack instead of before. It's also not particularly useful for monks, who have Step of the Wind, while anyone who doesn't have tavern brawler isn't likely to find this ability useful.

Straight Kick: You should be able to boot anything smaller than you, so I would change the effect such that it affects any creature no more than one size larger than you. You might even want to be able to kick things that are two or more sizes smaller than you even further away.

Pin Down: This is burning your bonus action, but it's also restraining the target, so should be fine.

Rend Armor: I wouldn't let this work on natural armour. If nothing else, you can't use mending on it. Also, armour doesn't give an AC bonus in the style of 3.5, so the wording needs some work. Finally, surely non-magical repairs can also work? Maybe try:

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[...] If the enemy is wearing manufactured armor, reduce its Armor Class by 1, to a minimum of 10 + its Dexterity modifier until a creature spends 1d6 hours repairing the armour or casts mending on it.

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Pierce: Wording quibble: "move action" isn't a thing. I'd consider having the effect trigger anytime an affected target moves more than 5 feet on its turn. Also, the damage needs a damage type.

Pushing Attack: It's a bit tedious having duplicate abilities - this is very similar to Straight Kick, except this is strictly worse because Straight Kick just works on a hit while this also gives the target a Strength saving throw. I'd consider renaming Straight Kick to be more generic and allowing you to use it with any melee attack.

Tide of Steel: Easily the strongest ability on account of the AoE knockback. As it is, you already have two such abilities that affect a single target. Maybe this could do something else?

Cleaving Attack: Not a fan of "one-fifth" division. It really doesn't jive with the 5e design aesthetic. I'd just deal damage equal to the manoeuvre die.

Ricochet: Fiddly and annoying. I would just ignore some amount of cover.

Snipe: I would consider having the target make a saving throw as part of the attack, no matter what you target:
- head: on a failed save, target is stunned until end of its next turn
- body: not sure for this one, but maybe on a failed save, you roll one additional weapon damage die
- legs/wings: since the effect has no strict endpoint (either it makes the save or receives magical healing or the effect continues), this is fine
- arms/other limbs: the current effect is okay, but meh - I'd go with disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks using the affected limb, and the affected limb can't be used to provide somatic components for a spell

Trip Attack: Couldn't you batter an opponent prone with your maul as well? Why restrict heavy weapons from working?

Woah, thank you so much for the great feedback!

There are some points I would like to further ask, if you don't mind.

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Originally Posted by Composer99

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Sand Throw: I would consider allowing this to either require only an attack roll or a saving throw, but not both.

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Thing is, isn't blinded a bit too much of a condition just to impose with an attack roll?

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Originally Posted by Composer99

Flying Kick: This is giving you a bunch of extra movement, potentially. I'm a bit concerned that someone who has, say, grabbed a level of rogue for expertise in Acrobatics could get some serious mileage out of this. I would consider capping the additional movement at 10 or 15 feet. After all, in theory, you could use this multiple times in a round (twice if you're a monk).

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Yeah, that is a very good point. I thought it would be balanced around having a chance of not only fail, but also fall prone if you are too greedy with your movement. That said, I do like the idea of having some sort of mobile-acrobatic attack for monks that do not rely on Ki points. What do you think it would be better? Limit Flying Kick only to once per turn, or to require it to move first (using your regular movement), and then do the attack (like some sort of charge attack)?

Wait, let's run some numbers. At level 4 (the first time any character can access this feat), you would have +3 proficiency (+6 with Expertise), +3 Dexterity. That means between +6 to +9. Which means basically free 10 feet of movements, and up to 20 if you are feeling risky (or up to 25-30 if you are feeling particularly lucky). Nothing extremely bad, I think. At higher levels, though, that becomes anything from +11 (+6 proficiency +5 Dex) to +17, which means free 20 feet and up to 35 feet.

You know what, I think your idea of a cap is better. Simple, elegant, and allows Acrobatics to be used.

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Originally Posted by Composer99

Somersault: Okay, this is almost identical to flying kick in terms of its effect; the movement is just happening after the attack instead of before. It's also not particularly useful for monks, who have Step of the Wind, while anyone who doesn't have tavern brawler isn't likely to find this ability useful.

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What I was targetting with this maneuver was an escape route for fragile but agile fighters after they make their attack. Like a hit-and-run (but hit-and-run by itself doesn't feel like a combat maneuver).

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Originally Posted by Composer99

Pushing Attack: It's a bit tedious having duplicate abilities - this is very similar to Straight Kick, except this is strictly worse because Straight Kick just works on a hit while this also gives the target a Strength saving throw. I'd consider renaming Straight Kick to be more generic and allowing you to use it with any melee attack.

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Yeah, it's true there are many pushing abilities. Actually, it's because I like playing with dynamic maps, things were positioning is vital. Having the non-magic people have some control options really opens up strategies (in particular because my current party is almost non-magical). Also, I wanted a stronger option than Straight Kick.

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Originally Posted by Composer99

Tide of Steel: Easily the strongest ability on account of the AoE knockback. As it is, you already have two such abilities that affect a single target. Maybe this could do something else?

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I was also confused about this ability too. I wanted to allow the tank to get some breathing room, if needed. But not sure if I made it too OP. The other option I was considering was just damage all enemies in area if their AC is lower than the attack roll (basically an AO attack), but the damage is equal to the maneuver die only. But I felt it was somehow too weak. Maybe enough for minions, but for stronger creatures, 1d4 is not going to do much.

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Originally Posted by Composer99

Snipe: I would consider having the target make a saving throw as part of the attack, no matter what you target:
- head: on a failed save, target is stunned until end of its next turn
- body: not sure for this one, but maybe on a failed save, you roll one additional weapon damage die
- legs/wings: since the effect has no strict endpoint (either it makes the save or receives magical healing or the effect continues), this is fine
- arms/other limbs: the current effect is okay, but meh - I'd go with disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks using the affected limb, and the affected limb can't be used to provide somatic components for a spell

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Oh, I like this! Just one thing: isn't stun a bit too much? I feel it's one of the strongest conditions in the book, and thus why I avoided using it for the maneuvers.

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Originally Posted by Composer99

Trip Attack: Couldn't you batter an opponent prone with your maul as well? Why restrict heavy weapons from working?

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This was done mostly for weapon category "balance" purposes. No particular reason you could not trip with any weapon (as the battlemaster shows). All the heavy weapons already had something going for them, so I decided to leave this to the non-heavy crowd.

Thanks a lot for all of your feedback!

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Originally Posted by Composer99

Sand Throw: I would consider allowing this to either require only an attack roll or a saving throw, but not both.

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Originally Posted by Yukito01

Thing is, isn't blinded a bit too much of a condition just to impose with an attack roll?

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For less than 1 round, using a limited resource? Not really, at least IMO. It's easy enough to get advantage on attacks against other creatures.

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Originally Posted by Composer99

Pushing Attack: It's a bit tedious having duplicate abilities - this is very similar to Straight Kick, except this is strictly worse because Straight Kick just works on a hit while this also gives the target a Strength saving throw. I'd consider renaming Straight Kick to be more generic and allowing you to use it with any melee attack.

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Originally Posted by Yukito01

Yeah, it's true there are many pushing abilities. Actually, it's because I like playing with dynamic maps, things were positioning is vital. Having the non-magic people have some control options really opens up strategies (in particular because my current party is almost non-magical). Also, I wanted a stronger option than Straight Kick.

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All well and good - I just wonder whether you really need two abilities that allow pushing, when you could have one and the players can reflavour it to suit (Alice the monk does a kick while Bob the fighter does a power shove, for instance, but they both use the "Shoving Attack" ability.)

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Originally Posted by Composer99

Tide of Steel: Easily the strongest ability on account of the AoE knockback. As it is, you already have two such abilities that affect a single target. Maybe this could do something else?

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Originally Posted by Yukito01

I was also confused about this ability too. I wanted to allow the tank to get some breathing room, if needed. But not sure if I made it too OP. The other option I was considering was just damage all enemies in area if their AC is lower than the attack roll (basically an AO attack), but the damage is equal to the maneuver die only. But I felt it was somehow too weak. Maybe enough for minions, but for stronger creatures, 1d4 is not going to do much.

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What makes this overtuned, I think, is that most of these manoeuvres let you make a weapon attack, add the manoeuvre die to the damage, and often achieve some other effect as well - but against a single target. This manoeuvre lets you make a weapon attack and achieve some other effect against multiple targets. Perhaps the way to go is to make it an AoE shove without the attack.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Composer99

Snipe: I would consider having the target make a saving throw as part of the attack, no matter what you target:
- head: on a failed save, target is stunned until end of its next turn
- body: not sure for this one, but maybe on a failed save, you roll one additional weapon damage die
- legs/wings: since the effect has no strict endpoint (either it makes the save or receives magical healing or the effect continues), this is fine
- arms/other limbs: the current effect is okay, but meh - I'd go with disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks using the affected limb, and the affected limb can't be used to provide somatic components for a spell

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Originally Posted by Yukito01

Oh, I like this! Just one thing: isn't stun a bit too much? I feel it's one of the strongest conditions in the book, and thus why I avoided using it for the maneuvers.

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Well, leaving aside variant human, the earliest you'll get this feat is at 4th level, one level ahead of monks getting Stunning Strike. Once monks get Stunning Strike, they can use it up to five times in between short and long rests, and the number of times they can use it increases as they gain levels. By contrast, you can use the head shot up to three times between short and long rests, and unless you take this feat multiple times (which is usually not going to happen), you won't be able to use it more often. And for both you and monks, there is an opportunity cost to using your resources on this attempt, since you won't have the ki or manoeuvre die to use on another ability.

But if you still think it's too much, you could have head and body have the same effect - extra damage on a failed save.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Composer99

Trip Attack: Couldn't you batter an opponent prone with your maul as well? Why restrict heavy weapons from working?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yukito01

This was done mostly for weapon category "balance" purposes. No particular reason you could not trip with any weapon (as the battlemaster shows). All the heavy weapons already had something going for them, so I decided to leave this to the non-heavy crowd.

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Fair enough.

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Originally Posted by Yukito01

Thanks a lot for all of your feedback!

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You're welcome!

Thanks again for the comments!

On snipe and the head-shot, my main worry is that the PCs could potentially stun-lock a single foe (especially dangerous for single BBEG fights). Would it be too complicated to only let the target be affected only once per each of the individual effects?