The Champion, Revised

The archetypal Champion focuses on the development of raw physical power honed to deadly perfection. Those who model themselves on this archetype are committed to their combat arts, becoming unparalleled masters of their fighting style.

Combat Expertise

Your intense training has shown you how to pierce the stoutest defenses and exploit the slightest of missteps. When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, your weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.

Additionally, when you have advantage on a weapon attack roll and hit or when you critically hit a creature with a weapon attack, the attack deals an additional 1d6 damage. You can deal this extra damage once per turn. At 10th level, you can apply this extra damage twice per turn. At 18th level, you can apply this extra damage three times per turn.

Signature Fighting Style

At 7th level, you improve upon your chosen Fighting Style, performing martial feats few warriors can match. You gain a benefit based on the Fighting Style you gained from the 1st level in this class:

• Archery: Before taking the Attack action on your turn while wielding a ranged weapon, you can make a ranged weapon attack as a bonus action. When you use this bonus action, you do not add your Archery Fighting Style bonus to your ranged weapon attack rolls until the beginning of your next turn.

• Defense: After taking the Dodge action on your turn, you can make a weapon attack as a bonus action. Additionally, after taking the Dodge action, you have advantage on opportunity attacks until the beginning of your next turn.

• Dueling: As a bonus action at the beginning of your turn, you can enter a defensive stance while you are holding a weapon in one hand and no other weapon. While in your defensive stance, you gain a +2 bonus to your Armor Class and Dexterity saving throws, but lose your +2 bonus to weapon damage rolls. Your defensive stance lasts until the beginning of your next turn or you are incapacitated or knocked prone.

• Great Weapon Fighting: When you are wielding a melee weapon with two hands with the two-handed or versatile properties, you can use your action to make a cleaving attack. Make a separate melee attack against a number of targets within your reach up to your proficiency modifier. The targets of a cleaving attack must be within 5 ft. of one another.

• Protection: When you use your Protection fighting style, all attack rolls against the protected creature have disadvantage until the beginning of your next turn. This benefit is lost if the creature is more than 5 ft. away from you, if you are incapacitated, or if you are knocked prone.

• Two-Weapon Fighting: While wielding a weapon in each hand, if you hit a creature with each of your weapons on your turn, you have advantage on your melee weapon attack rolls against that creature until the end of your next turn. This benefit is lost if you are no longer wielding a weapon in each hand, if you are incapacitated or knocked prone, or if you attack a different creature.

Remarkable Athlete

Your constant combat training has also honed your body to peak fitness. At 10th level, whenever you make a Strength, Dexterity or Constitution ability check, roll a d4 and add the result to the check.

Additionally, when you make a running high or long jump, the distance you clear or cover increases by a number of feet equal to your Strength or Dexterity modifier (minimum 0).

Image Sources

• Wizards of the Coast; Players Handbook 5e

• 'knight' by Chazilla on DeviantArt

Fighting Style Mastery

You have honed your skills with your chosen fighting style into the stuff of legends. At 15th level, you gain additional benefits based on the Fighting Style you gained from the 1st level of this class:

• Archery: Once per turn, if you have advantage on a ranged weapon attack roll against against a creature, you can forgo the advantage to fire two extra pieces of ammunition using the same attack roll. If you hit, the attack deals an additional 2d10 damage. If the ammunition used has additional effects that apply on hit (such as the extra damage from an arrow of slaying), you apply each effect to the target.

• Defense: When you have taken the Dodge action on your turn and a creature that you can see within your weapon's reach or range makes an attack against a creature other than you, you can use your reaction to make a weapon attack against that creature with advantage. If you hit, the target creatures has disadvantage on its attack.

• Dueling: If a creature misses a melee attack roll against you while you are in your defensive stance, you can use your reaction to knock the creature off balance. You have advantage on melee weapon attacks against the creature, and the creature has disadvantage on melee attacks against you until the end of your next turn.

• Great Weapon Fighting: When you hit a creature sized Large or smaller with a cleaving attack, you can push it up to 15 ft. away from you.

• Protection: When a creature you can see attacks another creature you can see other than you, you can use your reaction to move up to half your speed towards the target without provoking opportunity attacks. If you end that movement within 5 ft. of the target, they gain the benefits of your Protection fighting style, possibly causing the attack to miss.

• Two-Weapon Fighting: Once per turn, if you take the Attack action on your turn while wielding a melee weapon in each hand and you have advantage on a melee attack roll against against a creature, you can forgo the advantage to make an additional attack against that creature with your off-hand weapon.

Alternatively, you can forgo the above benefits of this feature and choose a second option from the Fighting Style class feature, also gaining the benefits of Signature Fighting Style for that Fighting Style.

Death Stroke

At 18th level, your deadliness in combat is without reproach. Your weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 18-20.

Additionally, when you critically hit a creature that has 40 or fewer hitpoints remaining with a weapon attack, instead of dealing damage as normal, you can choose to instantly kill the creature.

Image Sources

• Wizards of the Coast; Players Handbook 5e

• 'knight' by Chazilla on DeviantArt

Why the Revision?

Many players and DMs alike feel unsatisfied with the Champion archetype. While it was designed to be as simple as possible, with as few features and resources for a new player to keep track of, it falls far behind all other fighter archetypes as soon as the player gets a basic understanding of the game. The Champion also has no additional options in combat unlike other fighter archetypes, causing their gameplay to quickly become stale and repetitive.

Wizards attempted to make a revised version of the Champion in Unearthed Arcana in the form of the Brute, but that also fell short. Despite it be numerically superior to the Champion (and many other archetypes), it still did not address the core problem of stale gameplay that the Champion had, causing it to fall flat again.

My revision is my attempt to address the stale gameplay of the Champion and Brute while keeping the gameplay as simple as possible for a new player. The Revised Champion does not add any resources for the player to keep track of, but varies gameplay by rewarding the player for looking for advantage instead of blindly attacking in combat, giving the player the decision on whether to give up an attack to find advantage or to attack normally. The player may also gain alternate ways to attack that are situationally better than the standard Attack action, all the while keeping their core gameplay mechanic easy to understand and track.

Instead of making the Champion the jack of all trades combatant, I also decided to help Champions distinguish themselves from other fighters (and other Champions) by specializing them into their chosen Fighting Style. This also allows players to fulfill simple character concepts like "guy with big sword", "the hoplite", or "Legolas", without them being outshined by other classes that supplement with magic or limited use abilities.

Tasha's Fighting Styles

This document was designed before the release of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, so below are my hastily added ideas for Signature Fighting Style and Fighting Style Mastery for the new fighting styles.

Blind Fighting: (SFS) +20 ft. range of blindsight, advantage on Perception checks using your blindsight; (FSM) gain 10 ft. truesight

Interception: (SFS) you have advantage on your next attack roll against the attacking creature; (FSM) +2d10 damage reduction, reflect damage to attacker within 5 ft.

Superior Technique: (SFS) +2 superiority dice, +1 maneuver; (FSM) superiority dice become d8s, once per turn can use maneuver using d6 instead of a superiority die.

Thrown Weapon Fighting: (SFS) +1 weapon die on critical hits, movement does not provoke AoO; (FSM) +1 weapon die on critical hits, double range of thrown weapons

Unarmed Fighting: (SFS) gain proficiency and expertise in Athletics; (FSM) can grappling Huge and smaller creatures