Horrifically Overpowered Class Features for Pathfinder 1e - The Fighter (Patreon)

So, one of my most successful and popular product lines is the Horrifically Overpowered Feats for Pathfinder 1st edition. As a result, we've

So, one of my most successful and popular product lines is the Horrifically Overpowered Feats for Pathfinder 1st edition.

As a result, we've done a lot of those products. (Horrifically Overpowered Feats "HOF", More HOF, Mythic HOF, Even More HOF, Yet More HOF, and even HOF for Starfinder 1st edition).

The marketing for these has also been simple. "These are Overpowered. From a game design perspective, their are horrifically unbalanced. Don't use them. Heck, don't buy them. Here There Be Power Gaming."

In the more-than decade since the original PDF came out, on all platforms, we've sold more than 1,500 copies of The Genius Guide to Horrifically Overpowered Feats. It lead to a thread called "The Trial of Owen K.C. Stephens." I've gotten scores of emails over the years from people who love these things, and find ways to use them to have more fun in their games. Which, after all, is what gaming should be about.

So, I wasn't all that surprised when a Patron suggested I look at creating Horrifically Overpowered Class Features. (They also suggested Horrifically Overpowered magic items and spells which... maybe. We'll see how popular this feature is, first). So... here are some. Starting with the Fighter.

General Rules: Horrifically Overpowered Class Features

Horrifically Overpowered Class Features, as the name might suggest, are not balanced. Their imbalance is most likely to manifest in one or more of three ways. First, they likely represent an uptick in power larger than a typical class feature (and in most cases, larger than the most powerful class features). Second, they may have the potential to be combined with other rules elements (feats, spells, tactics, and other class features) to create an even-stronger effect than normal. Third, conceptually many of them bend the logic of the core rules, allowing warriors to cast spells, spellcasters to become weaponmasters, and well-designed characters to be much, much more effective than characters that have not been optimized.

Given the long list of sins placed at Horrifically Overpowered Class Feature's feet, it may sound as if these rules are unusable. That’s not strictly speaking true.

Each Horrifically Overpowered Class Feature is designed to give all the rules needed to use it in a campaign, and to be consistent and logical within the frame of reference of being Horrifically Overpowered. It’s just that the class features themselves are intentionally too powerful to reasonably be added to a typical game. So, why produce them at all?

The fact of the matter is that no two gaming groups are the same, and no two campaigns have exactly the same needs. After The Genius Guide to Horrifically Overpowered Feats came out, numerous customers gushed about the ways they had found to use these feats in their games. These ranged from only giving them to monsters, to using them to allow 3-man adventuring parties to survive encounters designed for 4 to 6 heroes, and even as special temporary divine blessings or for powers of artifacts. We don’t want to tell our customers they were doing it wrong, and since there seems to be a real enjoyment of such things, we've made a lot of Horrifically Overpowered products. This is just adding to the line.

However, we aren’t kidding when we say these things do not meet the normal rules of good class feature design. Such class features can badly unbalance a game, and shouldn’t be used by anyone, at any time, for any reason. ... That said, GMs who feel they know what they are doing are, of course, free to find interesting ways to add horrifically overpowered abilities to a game. All Horrifically Overpowered Class Features are accessed with the Horrifically Overpowered Class Feature feat. That means you have to be able to take a Horrifically Overpowered Fat to access any of these. (We made some suggestions on how such feats might be accessed in in The Genius Guide to Horrifically Overpowered Feats). That feat (presented here) is of the horrifically overpowered type, as are all the class features themselves. This ensures that if someone begins copying out feats from this post (which is Open Game Content, after all) and presents them as examples of my game design acumen, I can point out the feats are carefully marked as “Horrifically Overpowered.”

New Feat

Horrifically Overpowered Class FeatureOne of the things you can do? You do it WAY too well.Prerequisites: You bamboozle your GM into allowing this. (GMs... don't be bamboozled).Benefit: Select one class feature you have. You get the Horrifically Overpowered version of that class feature. If the normal version of the class feature does something different, you also get that ability. (If the class feature grants a feat or talent, you only get one feat or talent.)

("An Overpowered Fighter Can Stand Against Death Itself" Art by Vlastimil Šesták)

Horrifically Overpowered Fighter Class Features

Okay, here we go.

Horrifically Overpowered Fighter Class Skills (Horrifically Overpowered): When you gain a level from the fighter class and put a rank into a fighter class skill, you get a bonus rank in every other fighter class skill. Your ranks in a skill cannot exceed your total level. You can use this feat on a skill point gained the same level you gain the feat.

Horrifically Overpowered Fighter Weapon and Armor Proficiency (Horrifically Overpowered): Your weapon nonproficiency penalty is only -1. When using a simple or martial weapon, you ignore an amount of hardness and DR equal to your fighter level. When wearing armor with which you are proficient, it's armor and enhancement bonuses (to a maximum of each equal to your fighter level) apply to your touch AC, CMD, and against attacks from incorporeal and ethereal creatures.

Horrifically Overpowered Bonus Feat (Horrifically Overpowered): When selecting combat feats with this horrifically overpowered class feature, the only prerequisites you need to meet are fighter level and base attack bonus.

Horrifically Overpowered Bravery (Horrifically Overpowered): One fear effect of your choice that is affecting you cannot cause you to be cowering, frightened, or panicked. If you would normally suffer one of those conditions as a result of the selected fear effect, you are instead shaken. Being shaken when you are already shaken never causes you to become panicked. Each time your bravery bonus increases, you can use Horrifically Overpowered Bravery on an additional fear effect that is affecting you.

Horrifically Overpowered Armor Training (Horrifically Overpowered): You can reduce your armor check penalty below 0, making it a negative number. If you do this, it becomes a bonus to all the things armor check penalties apply to (ie if your armor check penalty is -2, you actually add +2 to all the things armor check penalties apply to). The weight of your armor does not count against your encumbrance.

Horrifically Overpowered Weapon Training (Horrifically Overpowered): Your weapon training is so overpowered, it magically enhances weapons you are trained with. You can add the following weapon properties to a weapon you have weapon training with, to a maximum bonus equivalent equal to the weapon training attack bonus: dancing, flaming, flaming burst, frost, icy burst, keen, shock, shocking burst, speed, or vorpal. These properties are added to any the weapon already has, but duplicates do not stack. If the weapon is not magical, it becomes magical and you have +1 less bonus to use for other properties. Imbuing a weapon with properties is a swift action you can only do 1ce per minute. These bonuses do not function if the weapon is wielded by anyone other than you.

Horrifically Overpowered Armor Mastery (Horrifically Overpowered): Your DR from armor mastery becomes hardness 10, DR 10/--. You apply both of these to attacks that DR applies to (reducing most physical damage by 20).

Horrifically Overpowered Weapon Mastery (Horrifically Overpowered): Your weapon mastery applies to all weapons with which you are proficient. No attack or combat maneuver you make with weapons you are proficient with provoke attacks of opportunity.

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 (Art by Stan! Not final product art)