Vanguard Fighter

A man stands above his fallen comrade, shield in front of him as blood pours down his already
wounded face but his determination to protect his ally until help arrives keeps him pushing thru the
pain until he wins, or dies. As the forces press on he withstands the assault, surviving as the war horns
sound and the banner of his army is raised high as he collapses to the ground over his ally as the field
medic’s rush towards them.
A Dwarven Shield Maiden stands beside her Queen as the assassins rush towards her, putting herself
not only between her Queen and the assassins, but taking the wounds as they retreat to safety. She is
remembered as a hero, not only a defender of her Queen, but a Vanguard of her people.
An Orc charges in to battle alongside his Chieftain, raging on a path of destruction and frenzy forward.
As the enemies charge forward he not only stands between them and his Chieftain to protect him, but
to make sure he is the one who will bear the most scars of honor when he returns home.
These are the fighters who not only martial under banners or causes, swear allegiances and service to
an individual or kingdom, but specialize in defending those who fight with them even at the cost of
their own safety. These are the Vanguard Fighters, those who not only stand to defend their allies, but
to push the fight forward as its forefront. Though training may vary, and loyalties are wide, all share
one thing in common, a style that both lends to keeping their allies alive and being a strong presence of
support and leadership on the field of battle.

Level Gained Feature Gained

3rd Bonus Fighting Style: Protection, Vanguard
Fighting
7th Vanguard Momentum
10th Vanguard Stance
15th Vanguard Endurance
18th Vanguard Pinnacle
Bonus Fighting Style
At 3rd level you learn the protection fighting style: When a creature you can see attacks a target other
than you that is within 5ft of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll.
You must be wielding a shield to do so.

Vanguards Fighting
Starting at 3rd level whenever a creature within 5ft of you attacks a target other than you, you can use
your reaction to make a single weapon attack against that creature. If you hit, the creature then has
disadvantage on that attack roll.

Vanguard Momentum
Staring at 7th level on the first round of combat you have an additional +10 bonus to your movement
speed, and whenever you hit a creature with an attack this round it has disadvantage on all attack rolls
against targets other than you until the end of its next turn. In addition while you are wielding your
shield you can use a bonus action on your turn to use your shield and perform one of the following
options, you can do this during and after the first round of combat:
 Defensive Stance: You choose an ally within 5ft of you, that creature gains an additional +1 to
its AC until the end of your next turn, or if it moves further than 5ft away from you.
 Shoving Attack: A creature within 5ft of you must make a Strength saving throw (DC 8 + your
proficiency bonus + your strength modifier) or be knocked prone. If a creature is two or more
sizes larger than you it automatically succeeds on the saving throw.
 Vanguards Flourish: You flourish your shield in a flash of movement, picking and distracting
one creature within 30ft of you and imposing disadvantage on its first attack roll on its turn, as
long as that attack targets a creature other you.
Vanguard Stance
Starting at 10th level whenever a creature makes an attack roll against a creature within 5ft of you and
you are wielding a shield you can use your reaction to make yourself the target of the attack. In
addition, you can use a bonus action on your turn to choose a single friendly creature within 15ft of
you. For 1 minute, whenever that creature takes damage and is within 15ft of you, you can choose to
take the damage instead. If the creature is more than 15ft away from you, it can no longer benefit from
this feature until you use it on that creature again. You can only have one creature affected by this
ability at a time.

Vanguard Endurance
Starting at 15th level you gain an additional use of your Second Wind feature, and if you use your
Second Wind feature while a creature is benefiting from your Vanguard Momentum (Defensive
Stance) or Vanguard Stance features they heal hit points equal to your proficiency bonus + your
constitution modifier.

Vanguard Pinnacle
Starting at 18th level whenever you take damage from your Vanguard Stance feature you can roll 1d10,
reducing the damage taken by the amount rolled (to a minimum of 1), you can only do this once a
round. In addition, whenever you use your Vanguard Fighting feature you may deal an additional 1d10
points of weapon damage, and whenever you make a Shoving Attack with your Vanguard Momentum
feature the creature has disadvantage on the saving throw if you are flanking that creature or moved
more than 10ft in a straight line before you used it. In addition when you use your Shoving Attack the
creature takes 1d10 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.
 Urban Fighter
A man and women stand back to back in a narrow alley, facing several thugs who have been sent to
deal with them. The thugs however were not prepared for the quick strikes and fast movements of the
pair, seasoned at not only fighting in such tight corners but also against such groups of people.
A guard is chasing a fleeing criminal, who thinks he has lost the guard. However the guard is far more
experienced in this city and as the criminal looks back as he darts out of the alley the guard rounds the
corner and takes him down in one swift movement.
A woman sits perched on a balcony, using the cover of its railing as both protection and steadying as
she aims her crossbow down below, waiting for the first of several targets to appear. By the time it’s
done she is untouched, and the group below dispatched like fish in a barrel, not able to find cover from
her barrage of bolts and quick movements across the higher vantage points of the small area.
These are Urban Fighters, masters of fighting where cover is bountiful and corners are tight. They
range as widely as any; from guards keeping the law, to criminals working for the worst of
organizations, to men and women simply seeking work within the city walls. Though masters of Urban
combat their skills are also sought elsewhere, as many places can match this environment.
Quick build
Unlike most fighters this archetype does lend to a very dexterous fighter, so unless you intend to use
strength based weapons and armor make Dexterity your highest score, followed by Constitution or
Wisdom. Next pick the defense fighting style if you intend to take one of the alternate fighting styles
listed in this class, as it is the most adaptable until you reach 3rd level.

Level Gained Feature Gained

3rd level New Fighting Style, Urban Runner
7th level Urban Tactics
10th level Additional Fighting Style
15th level Urban Reflexes
18th level Urban Master

New Fighting Style

At 3rd level when you pick this archetype you can choose to replace the fighting style you already
know with one of the below options:
 Close Quarter Archer: When making a ranged attack while you are within 5 feet of a hostile
creature, you do not have disadvantage on the attack roll. Your ranged attacks ignore half and
three-quarters cover against targets within 30 feet of you.
 Close Quarter Combatant: As a bonus action, you can enter a defensive stance that lasts until
the start of your next turn. While in your defensive stance, you can make opportunity attacks
without using your reaction, up to once a turn, and you can use your reaction to make a melee
attack against a creature that moves within 5ft of you.
 Hit and Run: Whenever you hit a creature with a melee attack on your turn it cannot take an
attack of opportunity against you if you move out of its threat range during that turn.

Urban Runner
Starting at 3rd level you have learned a lot about moving quickly thru tight corners and over obstacles.
You gain a climbing speed equal to your movement speed, and if you need to make an ability check to
move thru small areas or areas that are difficult for others to move thru (such as a crowded room or
pile of rubble) you have advantage on the check. In addition, you can use a bonus action on your turn
to double your movement speed until the start of your next turn, and once you use this feature you
cannot do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Urban Tactics
Starting at 7th level you have not only learned how to maneuver around urban environments quickly,
but that you need to be quick to act and think in order to survive some of the most dangerous aspects of
it. When you roll for initiative you may grant yourself a bonus to the roll equal to your Wisdom
modifier, and if you are surprised when a fight starts you have advantage on the initiative roll for that
encounter. In addition, whenever you deal weapon damage to a creature and you have cover from it, or
were hidden from that creature before you dealt damage to it, you may deal an additional 1d8 points of
weapon damage to the creature. You may only add this extra damage once a turn.

Additional Fighting Style

At 10th level pick and learn another fighting style from either the fighter class options or the New
Fighting style options in this archetype.

Urban Reflexes
At 15th level you have developed a trained and practiced series of reflexes as you have spent a large
amount of time fighting and traversing the tight corners of urban cities. From quick movements, to
dodging fireballs and blades, to noticing danger before others, or quickly moving out of sight of your
enemies. Pick one of the following traits to represent this:
 Keen Senses: Pick two senses out of hearing, sight, or smell. You have advantage on all
perception checks using those two senses.
 Trained Reflexes: You gain proficiency in either Dexterity or Wisdom saving throws.
 Uncanny Dodge: Whenever you are hit by an attack you can see you can use your reaction to
take half damage from the attack.

Urban Master
Starting at 18th level you have become a master of combat in urban environments and few can match
your familiarity with them. When you are in an urban environment you have advantage on initiative
rolls, Dexterity saving throws, and ability checks made to navigate such environments or to become
hidden from someone in such environments. In addition, you can use a bonus action on your turns to
take the Hide action (regardless of what environment you are in), and during your first round of
combat you may make one additional attack as part of your attack action, and if you hit a creature who
is hidden or who has cover during this turn they lose any benefits from those unless it’s three-quarters
and/or total cover from a creature.
 Tactician Fighter
A Warlord stands at the top of his keeps wall, staring down onto the approaching army still days away
and already planning. Looking down at the hollowed out areas of land that will crumble under the
pressure of the siege engines, the covered trenches where his warriors will be hiding and strike from
behind as his archers fire from above, and looking at the edges of the field where the fire trap will be
placed, ready to leave only the cliff edge dropping into the water hundreds of feet below as the
opposing armies means of escape.
An Orc Chief waits beneath the thick, viscous swamp water with his men as their chosen prey begin to
approach. They have been waiting for hours, and when the shaman lets out the signal all of the orcs
pull on the ropes they were holding, collapsing the makeshift bridge they had placed and plummeting
the massive animal into the swampy muck with them, where they then brutally and efficiently cut it
down while it is defenseless, the plan going exactly as it should have.
A small Halfling women waits in the highest point of the village trees, the alarms already set and
waiting for the approaching goblins to appear. As the wire on her wrist tightens she knows it’s time,
and begins putting her plan into motion. As the goblins begin to quietly walk out of the forest using
night as cover and approach the town she pulls the other wire, signaling to her Halfling allies its time.
As they all begin pulling on a series of ropes a massive figure burst out of the earth in front of the
goblins, a streak of lightning shooting forth from it as the goblins scream in pain and fear and quickly
begin retreating. As the town wizard steps out of the massive wooden construction of a dragons head
he nods towards the woman, her plan going exactly as they wanted.
These are Tactician Fighters, fighters who use both brains and brawn to fight. Some use their
leadership skills, some their intellect, and some ambush tactics to gain the advantage in any combat
situation to either win, or end, the scenario in their favor.

Quick build
Though this is a 3rd level archetype you want to keep it in mind at level 1. You will want your Strength
or Dexterity as your highest stat, depending on your weapons, then you will want your Intelligence as
your second highest score as it affects your Tactician abilities (with some exceptions). Next select the
defense fighting style, as it works well in most combat scenarios.
To both DM’s and players, these fighters are tactical experts who understand knowledge is power, and
this archetype is inspired by a want for a mechanical use of abilities that can support this, and liking
the Battlemaster archetype there will be some very clear inspiration from that archetype here, but I
found it didn’t quite fit my personal taste so I decided to make something hopefully a bit more fitting
for this that will be fun for others to see and play. As a note, not every player is extremely tactically
minded, so if you aren’t one of those specific kinds of people who are but still want to play this
archetype have a conversation with your DM about allowing you to make rolls for specific tactical
insights, or simply if your character has certain knowledge or skills your DM can just tell you under
certain circumstances, like how best to fight an approaching force when you only have one entrance or
exit, the best way to fortify a location, how best to utilize mercenaries that are hired or soldiers who are
lent to you, the best way to assault a specific location, ext.

Level Gained Feature Gained

3rd level Fighter Tactics, Studied Expertise
7th level Signature Tactic
10th level Tactical Superiority
15th level Practiced Tactics
18th level Master of Tactics

Fighter Tactics
When you select this archetype at 3rd level you gain Fighter Tactics that you can use in combat. You
start with four of these tactics, and learn two additional tactics at 7th, 10th, and 15th level. Whenever you
learn a new tactic you can also replace one tactic you already know with a different tactic. These
tactics are detailed at the end of this document; if it refers to a saving throw the DC is equal to 8 + your
proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier. If it refers to a Tactic die it is a d8, at 7th level it
becomes a d10, and at 15th level it becomes a d12. If an attack benefits from a tactic it can only be
affected by one tactic. You can use a total number of tactics equal to your Intelligence Modifier + your
proficiency bonus, and recover all expended uses of your Fighter Tactics at the end of a short or long
rest.

Studied Expertise
Starting at 3rd level you have studied historic battles and tactics to learn their strengths and weakness.
You gain proficiency with the History skill, if you are already proficient you instead gain expertise in it
(your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses your History proficiency).

Signature Tactic
Starting at 7th level you learn a single signature tactic that is not only more powerful than your other
tactics, but may be a tactic you become or are already known for performing. Select one of the
following tactics, you gain the ability to perform this tactic once per short or long rest. At 15th level
you can perform it twice instead of once between short or long rest. The effects of the tactic end early
if you fall unconscious.
 Group Tactic: You use an action and select any number of friendly creatures within 30ft of
you (including yourself). They gain temporary HP equal to your Intelligence Modifier + your
proficiency bonus, and for 1 minute they may add 1d4 to their attack rolls and saving throws.
 Savage Tactic: You use an action and select up to 6 creatures within 30ft of you (including
yourself). Each creature may add your Intelligence modifier to their next damage roll, and for 1
minute all creatures affected may choose to reroll one weapon damage roll on each of their
turns and choose which damage roll they use.
 Surprise Tactic: You use an action and select any number of friendly creatures within 60ft of
you (including yourself). For 1 hour all creatures affected have advantage on Dexterity (stealth)
checks, and once per turn if they deal damage to a surprised creature, or creature that was
surprised at the start of the combat, it takes additional damage equal to your Intelligence
modifier + your proficiency bonus.

Tactical Superiority
Starting at 10th level whenever you use one of your Fighter Tactics you may grant yourself a temporary
benefit. You can only use one of these effects a turn, and choose from the following list:
 You gain a +10 bonus to your movement speed until the start of your next turn.
 Your gain a +1 bonus to your AC, saving throws, ability checks, or attack rolls until the start of
your next turn.
 Opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage until the start of your next turn.
 You have advantage on Dexterity or Strength saving throws until the start of your next turn.

Practiced Tactics
At 15th level you have become an expert of tactical fighting and have perfected a few of your favorite
tactics, choose three Fighter Tactics you know that require a roll of your Tactic Die and aren’t the
Rally tactic. Whenever you use that tactic you can choose to instead use a d6 over your tactic die, but
not spend a use of your Fighter Tactic feature. You can use this free d6 once per turn.

Master of Tactics
Starting at 18th level you have become a master of tactical fighting and few can parallel your skills,
making you knowledgeable of how to defend or capitalize on the benefits of several common tactics
used in combat. Whenever a creature is flanking you it doesn’t gain any benefit for doing so unless
there are four or more hostile creatures within 5ft of you. In addition, once per turn when you have one
friendly creature within 5ft of a hostile creature that you deal damage to, you may choose to deal
additional damage equal to your intelligence modifier. Also once per turn if you have two or more
friendly creatures within 5ft of a hostile creature that you deal damage to you may reroll the damage of
the attack, but must keep the new roll.
 Fighter Tactics
Bolster: You use a bonus action and select a
creature within 30ft of you and grant it a single
Tactic Die. For 1 minute the creature can add
that Tactic Die to a saving throw or ability
check they make, they can only have one die
from this tactic at a time.
Disarm: When you deal damage to a creature
you can roll your tactic die and add the number
rolled to the damage roll and force the creature
to make a Strength saving throw or drop a
single item they are holding of your choice.
Flurry: Whenever you take the attack action
you can make an extra attack against a different
target within 5ft of the original target of your
attack action, you can only make one extra
attack from this tactic.
Lunge: Whenever you make a melee weapon
attack you can increase the reach of the attack
by 5ft and roll your tactic die, adding the
number rolled to the damage roll of that attack.
Parry: Whenever you take damage you can use
your reaction to roll your tactic die and reduce
the damage you take by the number rolled +
your dexterity/intelligence modifier (your
choice).
Pin: Whenever you roll damage against a
creature you can roll your tactic die and add it
the damage rolled and force the creature to
succeed on a Dexterity/Strength saving throw
(it’s choice) or become restrained until the end
of its next turn. While it is restrained in this
manner your movement speed is 0, and you can
use an action on subsequent turns to maintain
this effect. If you used a ranged weapon you
cannot maintain this effect and your movement
speed isn’t reduced.
Precision: When you make an attack roll you
can choose to roll your tactic die and add the
number rolled to the attack roll. You can do
this after the roll, but before any effects of the
attack are applied.
Push: Whenever you roll damage against a
creature you can roll your tactic die and add it
the damage rolled and the creature must
succeed on a Dexterity/Strength saving throw
(it’s choice) or be pushed up to 15ft away from
you in a direction of your choice.
Rally: You use a bonus action to aid a friendly
creature within 30ft of you. Roll your tactic die
and give that creature temporary HP equal to
the roll + your charisma modifier.
Reposition: As an action you, and up to three
friendly creatures of your choice within 30ft of
you, can use a reaction to move up to half the
creature’s movement speed without taking
attacks of opportunity.
Riposte: When a creature misses you with an
attack you can use your reaction to make a
single melee weapon attack against that
creature, rolling your tactic die and adding the
number rolled to the damage roll of that attack.
Shield Bash: If you are wielding a shield you
can use a bonus action to make a melee weapon
attack with the shield, using your strength and
proficiency bonus for the attack. On a hit the
creature takes 1 + your Strength modifier in
damage, and you can roll your Tactic Die and
add the number rolled to either the attack or
damage roll of the shield bash.
Sweep: When you deal damage to a creature
you can roll your tactic die and add the number
rolled to the damage roll and force any number
of creatures within 5ft of the original target to
take damage equal to the number rolled (the
damage type is the same as the attacks
damage).
Sunder: When you deal damage to a creature
with a melee weapon attack you can force the
creature to succeed on a Constitution saving
throw or have its AC reduced by 2 until the
start of its next turn. A creature can only be
affected by this tactic once a turn.
Taunt: You can use a bonus action and select a
single creature within 30ft of you. The creature
must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or roll
and subtract a d4 on any saving throw it makes
and suffer disadvantage on attack rolls against
any creature other than you until the end of its
next turn.
Trip: When you deal damage to a creature you
can roll your tactic die and add the number
rolled to the damage roll and force the creature
to make a Dexterity saving throw or be
knocked prone.
Vanish: You can use an action to choose a
single creature within 10ft of you, that creature
must succeed on a Dexterity/Constitution
saving throw (it’s choice) or become blinded until the start of its next turn.