Fighting Styles

Knowing how to use a particular fighting style is almost as important as being proficient with a weapon. Warriors, priests, and rogues can specialize in different methods of fighting by spending a weapon proficiency slot. The exact effects of style specialization vary from style to style.

Fighters, Paladins, Barbarians, and Rangers can specialize in as many styles as they like, as long as they have the proficiency slots available.
Rangers receive one free fighting style option specialisation.
Priests, Monks, Druids, Bards, and Thieves can only specialize in a maximum of 4 style options.
Wizards cannot specialize in fighting styles.

Each style has a number of options – each option costs one weapon proficiency slot.

Blind Fighting Style

This style applies to fighting the unseen, or where vision is compromised.

Darkness Combatant: You only suffer a -2 penalty to hit in total darkness (0r -1 in poor lighting) and no AC penalties.
Invisible Efficacy: You only suffer a -2 attack penalty when fighting invisible creatures.
Retain Abilities: You retain all special abilities that would normally be lost during melee combat in darkness.
Shadow Balance: You can move at full speed in darkness without needing to make a Dexterity check to avoid falling over.

Finesse Fighting Style

This style applies to all size Small melee weapons, Medium Fencing Blades, and missile weapons.

Accurate Blow: Apply your Reaction Bonus from Dexterity to melee attack rolls with weapons listed above, instead of your To Hit bonus from Strength
Accurate Throw: Apply your Reaction Bonus from Dexterity to damage rolls with thrown size S weapons instead of your Damage Bonus from Strength
Accurate Shot: Apply your Reaction Bonus from Dexterity to damage rolls with fired missile weapons instead of your Damage Bonus from Strength
Piercing Blow: Apply your Reaction Bonus from Dexterity to damage rolls with melee weapons (listed above) instead of your Damage Bonus from Strength.

Missile Fighting Style

This style applies to all missile weapons, fired, projectile, thrown or otherwise.

Long Shot: Gain an extra range category – extreme, or “X”, at 1/3 above the long range. Your range penalties for S/M/L/X are 0/-2/-5/-10
Swift Shot: Reduce the speed factor of a missile weapon by three to a minimum of 1.
Rapid Reload: You improve your rate of fire with your chosen crossbow or firearm by one category, but forfeit your movement for the round.
Rapid Fire: You can move at combat movement rate and attack with your full rate of fire, or move at your full movement rate and attack at half your rate of fire.

Mounted Fighting Style

This style applies to all mounted combat – the benefits do not apply unless the character is mounted.

Acrobatic Rider: Gain a +2 bonus to all Riding checks made during combat
Agile Charge: Your mount can change direction when charging
Expert Rider: You suffer no penalties for fighting when mounted
Fast Pace: Your mount’s movement rate increases by 20% (round down)

Natural Weapons Fighting Style

This style applies to natural weapons only – its bonuses do not apply to manufactured weapons.

Accurate Assault: Gain a +1 bonus to all attack rolls made with natural weapons
Brutal Assault: Gain a +1 bonus to all damage rolls made with natural weapons
Overwhelming Assault: Gain a +1 bonus to all CMB checks made with natural weapons
Rapid Assault: Reduce the speed factor of all natural attacks by 2

Polearm Fighting Style

This style applies to all polearms that require two hands to wield. (Awl pike, Bardiche, Bec de corbin, Bill-guisarme, Fauchard, Fauchard-fork, Glaive, Glaive-guisarme, Guisarme, Guisarme-voulge, Halberd, Hook fauchard, Lucern hammer, Military fork, Partisan, Ranseur, Spetum, Voulge)

Specialty Strike: Many polearms have specialized hooks, blades and flanges. These can give you a bonus to disarm, trip, or unseat an opponent . This option gives you a +2 bonus on your CMB roll to perform such attacks (this stacks with the polearm’s existing bonus). Note that this bonus only applies to the specialty functions of the weapon in question. In addition, it also confers a +2 bonus to any attack roll when setting the weapon to receive a charge (if allowed by the weapon). One need only take this option once. It applies to all polearms.
Cunning Feint: Using the speed of the polearm’s tip, you can sacrifice one of your attacks as a feint to bypass a parry attempt. This ability supersedes even a Perfect Parry. You must succeed in your to hit roll to land the blow, but you receive a +4 bonus to hit on this strike. You must announce the use of this ability before you roll initiative. If no parry attempt is made, the attack proceeds as normal.
Haft Strike: You can strike with the butt of your polearm, gaining one extra attack for 1d6 damage in addition to your normal attacks this round. Treat this as fighting with two weapons.
Phalanx: If you and two adjacent allies (one to either side) are specialised in this style, you can force enemies attacking you from the front to move backwards 10 feet. If the enemy chooses not to move, you and your adjacent allies gain one free attack each against them.

Precision Timing Fighting Style

This style relies on accepting disadvantages in order to achieve superior results against the enemy at precisely the right time.

Accept Attack: Allow an enemy to automatically hit you with a melee attack. You deal maximum damage on your next successful hit against them.
Counterstrike: When an enemy takes a free attack against you while you are fleeing combat, you gain one against them.
Perfect Parry: Sacrifice a main hand melee attack to automatically block an enemy’s attack against you.
Perfect Strike: Sacrifice all multiple melee attacks in a round and instead only attack once. If you hit successfully, you deal maximum damage. You can only use this style specialisation if you have multiple attacks available to you.

Ranged Mastery Fighting Style

This fighting style relies on extreme skill with missile weapons.

Perfect Shot: Sacrifice all multiple primary missile attacks in a round. Instead, attack once and deal maximum damage on a hit. You can only use this specialisation if you have multiple primary attacks available.
Ranged Backstab: Halve your rate of fire to backstab with a missile weapon.
Ranged Critical: Score a critical hit (maximum damage) with a missile weapon on a 19 or 20.
Throwing Arm: Increase all of your thrown weapon range increments by 1

Rapid Reaction Fighting Style

This style applies when you and your allies are in close melee combat with the enemy.

Combat Reflexes: You can make two free attacks against a foe who is fleeing combat instead of one.
Flanking Defender: When fighting alongside an ally, suffer -2 to hit to grant the ally +2 to AC.
Flanking Distraction: When you and an ally flank an enemy, the ally gains +1 to hit against the enemy.
Rear Strike: You gain an additional +1 to hit when attacking an enemy from behind.

Siege Warfare Fighting Style

This style applies to all siege warfare.

Danger Close: The minimum range for siege engines you command is halved
Efficient Crew: Siege engines you command can be crewed by half as many people
Maintain Engines: Siege engines you command have 50% more structural hit points (round down)
Rapid Crew: Siege engines you command have their reload times reduced by one third (round down)

Single Weapon Fighting Style

This style covers combat where the character wields a weapon in one hand and nothing in the other. If the character wields a weapon or carries a shield in their off-hand, the benefits do not apply.

Precision Blow: Gain a +1 to hit when making called shots with a single weapon.
Acrobatic Fighter: Gain a +2 to all Dexterity checks during combat when wielding a single weapon.
Agile Fighter: Gain a +1 AC bonus when wielding a single weapon.
Cunning Disarm: Gain a +2 bonus to all disarm attempts when wielding a single weapon.

Skirmisher Fighting Style

This style applies to combatants engaged in mobile melee combat.

Rapid Combatant: You can move your full movement rate and still attack at your full melee attack rate.
Moving Target: Gain a +1 to AC if you move at least 30’ in the round.
Rapid Retreat: Opponents do not get a free attack against you when you flee combat, so long as you are wearing light or no armour.
Rapid Strike: Reduce the speed factor of a one-handed melee weapon by three to a minimum of 1.

Sniper Fighting Style

This style applies when using missile weapons, with a focus on precision sniper fire.

Deep Cover: Forfeit all movement in the round in order to gain +2 AC when firing a missile weapon from cover.
Pin-point Accuracy: You never risk hitting allies when firing into melee.
Precision Shot: Gain a +1 to hit on called shots with a missile weapon.
Steady Aim: You fire last in the round in return for a +1 bonus to hit with a missile weapon.

Two Weapon Fighting Style

This style applies when fighting with two weapons – one in each hand.

Deft Parry: Gain a +1 AC bonus when parrying with two weapons when in full defense, and a +1to hit when parrying enemy blows. This bonus to hit applies only to parry attempts.
Improved Balance: Your off-hand weapon does not need to be smaller than your main weapon when fighting with two weapons
Improved Coordination: Reduce the penalties for fighting with two weapons from -2/-4 to 0/-2
Wall of Blades: Gain a +2 bonus to your CMD when wielding two weapons

Two-Handed Weapon Fighting Style

This style applies when fighting with weapons that require two hands to wield.

Mighty Knockdown: Gain a +2 bonus on CMB checks to knock an opponent down with a two-handed weapon
Mighty Smash: Gain a +2 to all Sunder checks when wielding a two-handed weapon.
Powerful Blow: Gain +1 damage when wielding a single-handed weapon with two hands
Swift Strike: Reduce the speed factor of a two-handed weapon by 3 to a minimum of 1

Unarmed Fighting Style

This style applies when the character is fighting without weapons. Fighting with natural weapons (such as teeth and claws) is not unarmed combat.

Agile Brawler: Gain a +1 bonus to AC while in unarmed combat
Fearless Brawler: Your armed opponents do not get +4 to hit and damage against you in unarmed combat
Lethal Brawler: You can choose to deal lethal damage in unarmed combat.
Skilled Brawler: Gain +2 bonus to CMB in unarmed combat (this also increases CMD by two points)

Weapon & Shield Fighting Style

This style covers fighting with a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other – the benefits only apply when fighting in this way.

Grip Weapon: Wield a small weapon in your shield-hand without losing the shield’s AC bonus. This only works with small shields and bucklers
Improved Cover: Forfeit all movement for one round to gain +2 AC against missile attacks with a body shield, and +1 AC against missile attacks with large or medium shields. If you also have the shield proficiency, you gain an additional benefit.
Shield Bash: Perform shield bash without losing the shield’s AC bonus – the shield bash is at -2 to hit but you suffer no penalties to attacks made with your weapon hand. Additionally, you can attack with your shield at the same weapon speed as your main hand weapon if that is faster than the listed speed of the shield. If attacking with only the shield, defer to the speed of the shield.
Shield Wall: You and any adjacent allies who are also specialised in this style gain +1 AC

CULTURAL WEAPON FIGHTING STYLES:

Below are two new fighting styles that relies on the cultural weapon proficiency group system. These styles are used with the cultural weapon proficiency groups. A character must have affinity with one or more cultural weapon groups to specialize in these fighting styles.

Cultural Affinity Fighting Style

This fighting style details basic applications of cultural weapons groups, improving a character’s skill with weapons in those groups.

Cultural Familiarity: You suffer no non-proficiency penalty for any weapon that is part of a cultural weapon group that you have affinity with.
Improved Expertise: Gain a +1 bonus to damage with one weapon with which you have expertise in a cultural weapon group that you have affinity with.
Maneuver Expert: Gain a +1 bonus on CMB checks with all weapon in the same cultural weapon group.
Well-Practiced: Reduce the speed factor of all weapons in a cultural weapon group that you have affinity with by one point. This reduction is to a minimum of 1.

Cultural Excellence Fighting Style

This style expands a character’s command of cultural weapons, developing the scope of benefits when using culturally related weapons.

Broad Approach: When you have Mastery in a weapon, you gain Specialization in two other weapons in the same cultural weapon group.
Cultural Adaptation: Add two weapons to a cultural weapon group that you have affinity with.
Cultural Overlap: Pick a weapon that is part of a cultural weapon group you have affinity with. You now have affinity with another cultural weapon group that also contains that weapon.
Improved Critical: Improve the critical range of one weapon with which you have expertise in a cultural weapon group that you have affinity with. Your weapon now does maximum damage on a natural roll of 19 or 20.