Surge Fighter (3.5e Class)

Author: Luigifan18 (talk) Date Created: August 27, 2013 Status: Just started Editing: Clarity edits only please

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A variant fighter who gets half as many feats as normal, but more than makes up for it with powerful combat surges that enable him to be the direct martial equivalent of a wizard. 20 1 Good Good Poor Poor Other Full

Surge Fighter

Fighters are the epitome of physical combat, whose massive repertoire of feats enable them to meet any challenge. They don't need no stinkin' class features to be as good as any other base class. Well, at least, that's what the Player's Handbook proclaims. In practice, the feats are so weak, and spellcasting so powerful, that everyone but the monk (a.k.a. the personification of useless) leaves the fighter choking on their dust by 9th level. Enter the surge fighter. With just one core class feature - the combat surge - the surge fighter takes the concept of the fighter and makes it something that makes even a wizard soil himself in fear at the prospect of confronting it.

Making a Surge Fighter

The surge fighter plays much the same role in combat as the regular fighter, with the exception of combat surges. By spending his surge points, a surge fighter can drastically boost his power for a glorious moment, rivaling the efficacy of any spell or power. But just like spell slots and power points, surge points are finite. If the surge fighter does not ration them carefully and use them only as needed, then he will soon run out — and when that happens, he's just an ordinary fighter with half as many feats. Which pretty much equals "laughingstock" in the D&D world.

A surge fighter plays the same role in an adventuring party as a regular fighter; he is the frontman, the guy who gets up in the enemy's face to dish out damage and keep them busy while his companions perform their own jobs (wizards nuke, clerics heal, rogues stab guys in the back, et cetera, et cetera). The surge fighter is simply really, really good at it as long as he still has surge points. The surge fighter is flexible, though (albeit not quite as much as a normal fighter), and can play almost any melee or ranged combat role with ease.

Abilities: Like a regular fighter, the surge fighter's most important ability scores are Strength and Constitution, to help him deal and take lots of damage. (The surge fighter doesn't really need the boost to Fortitude saves, but since he wants lots of Constitution anyways for a lot of hit points, it's something he should think about anyways.) Dexterity is also important for AC and Reflex saves (though the former benefit may, ironically, be limited by bulky armor), but is even more important if the surge fighter decides to be a ranged attacker or utilize Weapon Finesse or Combat Reflexes. Intelligence and Charisma are pretty much dump stats, and Wisdom is barely more important than the other two mental abilities (Will saves are the main reason to invest in Wisdom).

Races: Any race that can be a fighter can be a surge fighter. Any class whose favored class is fighter also favors surge fighter.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Gold: Same as fighter.

Starting Age: As fighter.

Table: The Surge Fighter

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Surge Points/Day
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Combat Surge, Fighter Equivalence, Surge of Accuracy (Insight), Surge of Power, Surge of Skill (Insight), Saving Surge (Insight, Resistance), Surge of Armor, Surge of Energy, Surge of Force, Surge of Sleep, Surge of Detection, Fighter Bonus Feat	8
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Surge of Accuracy (Enhancement), Surge of Skill (Enhancement), Saving Surge (Enhancement)	16
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Ability Surge (Insight, Enhancement), Surge of Range, Surge of Obscurity, Surge of Clarity, Surge of Motion, Surge of Knocking	24
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Fighter Bonus Feat	32
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Surge of Accuracy (Morale), Surge of Skill (Morale), Saving Surge (Morale), Ability Surge (Morale), Dispelling Surge, Stable Surge of Motion, Surge of Speed, Surge of Slow Motion	40
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2		48
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2	Surge of Accuracy (Competence), Surge of Skill (Competence), Saving Surge (Competence)	56
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2	Fighter Bonus Feat	64
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3		72
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3		80
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3	Greater Dispelling Surge	88
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4	Fighter Bonus Feat	96
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4		104
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4		112
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5		120
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Fighter Bonus Feat	128
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5	Surge of Reality, Surge of Death	136
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6		144
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6		152
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	Fighter Bonus Feat	160
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Martial Lore (Int), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str).

That's a lot of skills for someone only getting two skill points per level

I would have liked to just use the normal fighter's skill list and be done with it, but I found the absence of certain skills - namely Listen and Spot - to be rather jarring. It's like fighters are doddering idiots who are only good at fighting and need the rest of their party to care for them when doing everything else. I think every class should be at least theoretically capable of performing mundane tasks such as being aware of their surroundings or knowing when they're being swindled. (You'll notice that Bluff, Hide, and Move Silently aren't on the list; just because somebody can notice cheats and sneaks doesn't mean they can be a cheat or a sneak themselves. Also, I envision the surge fighter as being just a little bit clumsier than the regular fighter, which is why Craft isn't on the list even though the fighter has it. (Why the fighter of all classes has Craft, I'm not quite sure.))

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the surge fighter.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A surge fighter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).

Combat Surge: The surge fighter is more than a capable combatant at any time, but his true ace in the hole is his combat surges. Combat surges are quick bursts of awesome combat ability capable of matching what a wizard can accomplish with his spells. Surges are typically instantaneous or otherwise very short in terms of duration, as the power is momentary and comes and goes in an instant — that's why it's called a surge. (If you want a long-lived boost of combat effectiveness, then maybe you should consider being a barbarian instead; their rages can last for quite some time.)

A surge fighter can't use a combat surge whenever he feels like it; he needs to have enough surge points. A surge fighter has a pool of surge points equal to his surge fighter level ×8, which are expended to perform combat surges. Spent surge points are renewed with eight hours of rest, just like a spellcaster's spell slots or a psionic character's power points. Just like spell slots and power points, there are ways to refresh expended surge points on the go or gain temporary surge points, but such effects tend to be rare, hard to find, and hard to generate.

Some surges are activated as part of an attack or attack action. Others are actions in and of themselves. In any case, the maximum number of surge points a surge fighter may spend on a single action is equal to his class level. (If multiple surges are performed on the same action (usually but not always an attack), the total number of surge points paid to perform them can be no greater than the surge fighter's class level.)

Fighter Bonus Feats: Surge fighters get bonus feats just like fighters do. They just don't get as many of them; that's the price they pay for the power of the surge. At 1st level, a surge fighter gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to the feat that any 1st-level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The surge fighter gains an additional bonus feat at 4th level and every four surge fighter levels thereafter (8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th). These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A surge fighter must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score, base attack bonus minimums, and effective fighter level.

These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels. A surge fighter is not limited to the list of fighter bonus feats when choosing these feats.

Fighter Equivalence: A surge fighter is basically a fighter, just a little klutzier (due to reliance on surges rather than finesse); thus, they can learn the same advanced combat techniques that a fighter can, they're just not able to master them quite as quickly. A surge fighter's first level in the class is equivalent to a level of fighter for prerequisite purposes, but from then on, his effective fighter levels equal his surge fighter levels −1. These effective fighter levels stack with actual fighter levels and effective fighter levels from other classes (such as warblade or edgemaster) for the purpose of meeting prerequisites.

There is one exception to this imperfect fighter equivalence; only 10 levels of surge fighter, rather than eleven, are needed to become an edgemaster. Edgemaster levels stack with surge fighter levels with respect to the development of bonus feats, but not for the development of surges or increasing the surge fighter's number of surge points.

Surge of Accuracy (Ex): A surge fighter may, as part of an attack action, elect to pay a number of surge points no greater than his class level to increase his attack roll by +4 per spent surge point. The increase is treated as a bonus of the surge fighter's choosing, though which bonus types are available is limited by his class level. These surge points must be spent before the attack roll is actually made, and remain spent regardless of whether the attack hits or misses.

At 1st level, the surge fighter may choose to make the surge of accuracy an insight bonus. At 2nd level, the surge fighter may choose to make the surge of accuracy an enhancement bonus. At 5th level, the surge fighter may choose to make the surge of accuracy a morale bonus. At 7th level, the surge fighter may choose to make the surge of accuracy a competence bonus.

Surge of Power (Ex): A surge fighter may, as part of an attack action, elect to pay a number of surge points no greater than his class level to add 1 die to his damage roll per spent surge point. These damage die are the same type used by the weapon he made the attack with. (Thus, to provide a few examples for a Medium surge fighter, a surge of power could add 1d3 per spent surge point to an unarmed strike or attack with a gauntlet or jalzab, 1d6 damage per spent surge point to an attack with a sickle, shortspear, or quarterstaff, 1d8 damage per spent surge point to an attack with a spear, longsword, or longbow, 1d10 damage per spent surge point to an attack with a glaive, heavy crossbow, or bastard sword, or 1d12 damage per spent surge point to an attack with a greataxe. For an extensive list of weapons and their damage values, see the SRD Weapons page.) Alternatively, if the attack's damage is a fixed value, the surge fighter may pay a number of surge points no greater than his class level to add +3 to the damage per spent surge point. If the attack's damage is variable but not influenced by a damage roll, the surge fighter may pay a number of surge points no greater than his class level to increase the damage by one full dependent variable (such as number of caster level(s)) per spent surge point.

In any case, this ability only applies to the primary damage type inflicted by the attack, prioritized in this order: hit point damage > ability damage, burn, or drain > negative levels > penalties to skills or other checks > power point damage > damage to other limiting points > spell slot erasure > maneuver removal > negative condition duration > everything else. A weapon's physical damage takes precedence over any energy damage it may deal, unless the weapon only deals energy damage. For other types of attack, the attack usually designates which damage type is considered to be the primary damage type (if not, the decision is up to the DM, and should be kept consistent throughout the campaign). Generally, the damage that is inflicted in the greatest amount, has the most potential for being enhanced (by ability scores, critical hits, etc.), or mentioned first in the attack's descriptive text is the primary damage type. At the DM's discretion, you may pay additional surge points to augment other types of damage separately, but your total surge points spent on a single attack can never be greater than your class level. This surge cannot be used with an attack that does not actually attempt to inflict damage or inflict a finite-duration negative condition if successful (such as a trip, overrun, disarm, non-damaging touch spell, or delaying strike). (It can be used with a damaging touch spell, but this is a non-factor unless you multiclass into a spellcasting class, and probably less efficient than having all your levels in said spellcasting class.)

No matter what other factors apply, the surge points are spent as the attack is declared - that is, before the attack roll is made. If the attack misses, the surge fails to do anything whatsoever (except maybe cause a highly localized atmospheric disruption — that's just a fancy way to describe displacing air, so don't expect it to actually do anything) and the surge points are wasted.

Surge of Skill (Ex): Whenever the surge fighter is required to make a skill check, he may spend a number of surge points no greater than his class level to increase the skill check by +4 per surge point spent. This increase is treated as a bonus type of the surge fighter's choosing, and the available bonus types are the same as those available for surge of accuracy. Like surge of accuracy, surge of skill must be declared and the surge points must be spent before the skill check is actually made; the surge points remain spent regardless of the skill check's success or failure.

Saving Surge (Ex): Whenever the surge fighter is required to make a saving throw, he may spend a number of surge points no greater than his class level to increase the saving throw result by +1 per surge point spent. This increase is treated as a bonus type of the surge fighter's choosing, and the available bonus types are the same as those available for surge of accuracy, except that saving surge is also allowed to be a resistance bonus starting at level 1.

Surge of Armor (Sp): As a standard action, a surge fighter may spend any number of surge points to replicate the effects of a mage armor spell. The caster level for this effect is equal to the number of surge points spent.

Surge of Energy (Su): As part of an attack action, a surge fighter may spend 1 surge point to convert all of the damage his attack deals to fire, cold, electricity, acid, or sonic damage. This allows him to bypass most forms of damage reduction, though he may have to pick his energy type carefully to avoid running afoul of resistances, immunities, or worst of all, absorption. The descriptor of this surge is the same as the energy type the attack is converted to. This surge must be declared before the attack roll is made; if the attack misses, the surge is wasted.

Surge of Force (Su): As part of an attack action, a surge fighter may spend 4 surge points to convert all of the damage his attack deals to force damage. This enables him to attack incorporeal creatures and bypass most forms of damage reduction and energy resistance. This surge has the [Force] descriptor. This surge must be declared before the attack roll is made; if the attack misses, the surge points are wasted.

Wait, this is usable at 1st level?!?

Magic missile, as a 1st-level spell, is usable by a 1st-level wizard. Surge of force is meant to be the surge fighter's answer to magic missile, so, it is necessary for it to be usable at 1st level. At the same time, surge points are among the "cheaper" type of limiting points, about equivalent to power points; 1 surge point is far too cheap a cost to pay to convert a physical attack's damage to force, considering that force resistance is very, very, very rare. Thus, I made the cost 4 surge points and included a clause to allow the surge fighter to pay a reduced cost in exchange for doing less damage (magic missile's damage is kind of low for 1st level anyways, and −2 damage is a huge deal at lower levels, so it all balances out). If you want to know more about what a "limiting point" is, check out the page I made for them.

This surge may be used even if the surge fighter isn't able to pay enough surge points to fulfill its entire cost (whether this is due to insufficient class level or not enough remaining surge points for the day); that is, it can be performed for only 1, 2, or 3 surge points. However, for every 1 surge point not paid, the surge fighter incurs a −2 penalty on the damage roll or damage inflicted (which cannot reduce the damage below 1). As with the bonus provided by surge of power, this penalty only affects the primary damage of the attack.

Surge of Detection (Sp): A surge fighter may, as a standard action, spend surge points to replicate a detect spell. The caster level for the detect spell is the number of surge points spent, and the surge fighter instantaneously detects everything that the spell is capable of revealing. (With certain detect spells, such as detect evil, this might actually be a bad thing.) The minimum number of surge points that must be spent depends on the detect spell in question:

• Detect Magic: 1 surge point
• Detect Poison: 1 surge point
• Detect Secret Doors: 1 surge point
• Detect Undead: 1 surge point

Ability Surge (Ex): From 3rd level on, as a swift action, a surge fighter may pay a number of surge points no greater than his surge fighter level to grant himself a +1 bonus to an ability score of his choice per surge point spent. The bonus type may be any of those available to surge of accuracy, except for competence. The surge fighter may spend 2 additional surge points to, instead of improving the bonus, grant the bonus to an additional ability score, up to 12 surge points to grant a bonus to all 6 ability scores (plus at least 1 surge point to actually grant a bonus). The effects of this surge last for 1 round. As with any surge, the total number of surge points spent on one performance of this surge cannot exceed the surge fighter's class level.

Surge of Range (Ex): From 3rd level on, as a swift action, a surge fighter may pay a number of surge points no greater than his surge fighter level to multiply his melee attack range by the number of surge points spent for 1 round. (For instance, spending 2 surge points on this surge would make a 5-foot range a 10-foot range, or make a 10-foot range a 20-foot range; spending 3 surge points on this surge would make a 5-foot range a 15-foot range, or make a 10-foot range a 30-foot range; and so on and so forth. Spending 1 surge point on this surge doesn't do anything.) Surge of range does not stack with itself or with any other effect that extends melee reach.

Alternatively, this surge can be used as part of a ranged attack action to ignore a number of range increments up to the number of surge points spent. This both extends maximum reach and allows a ranged attack to go further before beginning to take penalties due to distance.

Surge of Motion (Su): A surge fighter of 3rd level or higher may pay a number of surge points no greater than his or her class level to replicate the effects of a single teleport performed via the bamf spell. This is not a teleport, but rather a lightning-quick alteration of location performed in much the same way as a jump. (Heck, it might as well be called a jump, except the surge fighter moves much too quickly to be seen by the naked eye, much less provoke attacks of opportunity. Even if he's only moving 10 feet. And yet he can stop on a dime. Well, that's the sort of power you get when you perform a combat surge.) However, a surge fighter may perform a surge of motion in any direction (including upwards or downwards - he can even move straight up or straight down, as long as he has line of sight to his destination (and he doesn't even need line of sight if he spends at least eight surge points). The surge fighter can even perform surge of motion in midair (effectively allowing him to fly, though at a maneuverability level below even clumsy). If the surge fighter is in midair after performing a surge of motion, he falls at the beginning of his next round unless he performs another surge of motion as his very first action in the round (starting from his turn). Distance covered by a surge of motion is not counted for falling damage calculations, so the surge fighter can surge of motion to the ground if he wants to land without hurting himself. The surge of motion's effective caster level (for variables such as jump distance) and available duration (for determining types of jump possible) are equal to the number of surge points spent; as with any surge-enhanced action, the maximum number of surge points a surge fighter can spend on a single surge of motion is equal to his class level.

• Stable Surge of Motion (Su): From 5th level onward, if the surge fighter ends up in midair at the end of a surge of motion, he instantly gains the effect of an air walk spell for 2 rounds, followed by a feather fall spell for 4 rounds (this replaces the 1d6 rounds of slow spell failure that usually happens at the end of an air walk). Both the air walk and feather fall effects extend not only to the surge fighter himself, but also to all of the gear on his person, anybody he was carrying with him during the surge of motion, and all of the gear on their persons. The surge fighter can choose not to grant the air walk or feather fall effect to some or all of the creatures he brought with him, which basically means he can hurt people by grabbing them, surging up into the air, and dropping them from a great height. The surge fighter may also instantly end either the air walk or feather fall effect at any time as a free action, which helps him dive-bomb enemies. Every creature affected by the surge fighter's stable surge of motion can end its air walk or feather fall effect individually, assuming that the surge fighter allowed it to be granted to them. Stable surge of motion is otherwise identical to surge of motion. While even clumsy fliers can still fly rings around the surge fighter (or at least easily beat him in "not looking like a spastic while staying airborne" competitions), he at least can stay in the air long enough to actually fight enemy fliers now, instead of simply harassing them.

Surge of Reality (Su): From 17th level onward, a surge fighter can spend 10 surge points as an immediate action to instantly negate any wish, miracle, or limited wish just as it's being cast, preventing it from having any effect. Spent XP is not refunded; the spell is wasted to no effect. The surge fighter must succeed on a Spellcraft check to detect the wish, miracle, or limited wish; otherwise, by the time he realizes what the enemy spellcaster did, it's too late to undo the alterations to reality. Other than that minor hurdle, this is a great tool for making wizards cry.

Epic Surge Fighter

Table: The Epic Surge Fighter

Hit Die: d10

Level	Special	Surge Points/Day
21st	| 168
22nd	Epic Ability Surge | 176
23rd	Bonus Feat | 184
24th	| 192
25th	| 200
26th	Bonus Feat | 208
27th	| 216
28th	| 224
29th	Bonus Feat | 232
30th	| 240
2 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Combat Surge: The epic surge fighter continues to have eight surge points per class level, and may spend one surge point per class level at any one time.

Fighter Equivalence: The epic surge fighter's effective fighter level for the purpose of prerequisites (such as for feats and prestige classes) is equal to his surge fighter level − 1.

Epic Ability Surge: At 22nd level, the surge fighter gains another option for his Ability Surge. He may pay additional surge points to extend the duration by 1 round per surge point (these surge points do not count towards determining the size of the bonus or how many ability scores it applies to). The number of surge points spent on a single ability surge still cannot exceed the surge fighter's class level.

Bonus Feats: The epic surge fighter gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic surge fighter bonus feats) every three levels after 20th.

Epic Surge Fighter Bonus Feat List: Armor Skin, Combat Archery, Damage Reduction, Devastating Critical, Dire Charge, Distant Shot, Energy Resistance, Epic Endurance, Epic Leadership, Epic Prowess, Epic Toughness, Epic Weapon Focus, Epic Weapon Specialization, Exceptional Deflection, Improved Combat Reflexes, Improved Manyshot, Improved Stunning Fist, Improved Whirlwind Attack, Infinite Deflection, Instant Reload, Legendary Commander, Legendary Rider, Legendary Wrestler, Overwhelming Critical, Penetrate Damage Reduction, Perfect Two-Weapon Fighting, Reflect Arrows, Spellcasting Harrier, Storm of Throws, Superior Initiative, Swarm of Arrows, Two-Weapon Rend, Uncanny Accuracy. In addition to the feats on this list, the surge fighter may treat any feat designated as a Fighter Bonus Feat, but not listed here, as being on his or her bonus feat list. Epic bonus feat progression replaces fighter bonus feat progression.

Human Surge Fighter Starting Package

Weapons: Longsword.

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
<-Skill name->	<-4 for class skills and 2 for cross-class skills->	<-Abbrieviated key ability->	<-armor check penalty based on starting armor. If innapplicable put "—"->
<-Skill name->	<-4 for class skills and 2 for cross-class skills->	<-Abbrieviated key ability->	<-armor check penalty based on starting armor. If innapplicable put "—"-> <-copy and paste the rows as necessary.->

Feat: <-1st-level feat selection->.

Bonus Feats: <-1st-level feat bonus feats due to class or sample race. remove this section if this sample doesn't get any bonus feats at 1st level. ->.

Gear: <-Starting armor and other equipment outside of weapons.->.

Gold: <-Starting gold using this package.->.

Campaign Information

Surge Fighters in the World

“	<-Some quote from a character of this class->	”
—<-NPC name->, <-race-> <-class->

Surge fighters play much the same role in the world as fighters.

Daily Life: Surge fighters live in much the same way as fighters. They constantly train to maintain their combat skill.

Organizations: Surge fighters don't have organizations of their own. They congregate in the same places as regular fighters.

NPC Reactions: NPCs react to surge fighters much like they do to normal fighters, in part because they can't really be told apart at a glance.

Surge Fighters in the Game

Surge fighters are just like fighters, except with a wizard-like ability to serve as a trump card.

Adaptation: <-Possible variant conceptions of this class.->.

Sample Encounter: <-DM placement for NPCs of this class.->.

EL <- EL Number ->: <-Encounter scenario and character info on sample NPC including stat block. The CR of the NPC is typically the same as the EL for the encounter.->.

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