Totally unique and original GLOG fighter

Hopefully you caught the sarcasm in the title. The GLOG fighter has been done before.

Oh boy, has it been done before.
Goblin Punch Goblin Guts Fighter
Goblin Punch The Lamb Fighter
Coins & Scrolls Fighter
2 Goblins in a Trenchcoat Fighter
Princesses & Pioneers Fighter

It has even been done as a template/subclass a la GLOG wizards.
Whose Measure - How to Design GLOG Fighters
A Distant Chime - Fighter Disciplines

I'm sure there are many more. These are just the ones I'm most familiar with. (Read: stealing from.)

So I really, really do not need to write my own. But every time I try thinking about something useful, game-able, etc... I end up thinking instead about how to adapt the common fighter stuff to the peculiarities of my version of the GLOG. So here:


FIGHTER

Starting Equipment: sword (d8), bow and arrows (d6, ranged), chainmail (2 armor), good boots
Starting Skill: d6 1-2: farmer, 3-4 soldier, 5-6 sailor

+1 HP per template

A: tricky, parry
B: threat assessment, notches
C: sentinel, impress
D: extra attacks

Tricky
You have advantage on combat maneuvers.

Additionally, whenever you roll minimum damage on an attack, you can attempt a free combat maneuver.

Parry
You can sacrifice a piece of combat equipment (weapon, armor, shield) to reduce incoming damage by 1d12.

Threat Assessment
For every 10 minutes of reconnaissance or 1 turn of combat, you can ask a GM a question about your opponent's fighting capabilities.

Additionally, if you make eye contact with a person, you can tell how many sapients they've killed: zero, one, or many.

Notches
Whenever you defeat a powerful (boss type) monster, you learn a new fighting technique. Each technique is a custom ability negotiated with the GM. Ideally, these are inspired by the monsters you've defeated. You can use each technique once per day.

Sentinel
When someone retreats from you, you can make a single attack against them.

Impress
Whenever you win a fight against nontrivial foes, people who don't like you make a new reaction roll with a +4 bonus. This even works on people you just defeated in combat, unless you caused them undeserved or disproportionate harm. Hirelings get a new morale roll -or- save vs fear.

Extra Attacks
You can attack up to 5 different targets each turn. You MUST declare all your targets up front and roll all your dice at once or else forfeit your extra attacks for the turn.





DESIGN NOTES

I am generally following the building blocks laid out in the latter 2 links. I want this fighter to be a satisfying baseline to guide creation of more specific variants.

Starting Stuff
I wish the starting equipment and skills were more interesting but I was sick of holding up the post for something small. Extra HP and good equipment make the fighter survivable.

Tricky
In my hack, you perform combat maneuvers with a STR or DEX roll and suffer a dramatic reversal if you fail. If you have a situational ADV in combat, you can apply it to damage or a maneuver or trade it to try both. ADV helps the fighter avoid that reversal. And situational ADV isn't wasted because they can pick one of the other options.

The free maneuver (as in: succeed or nothing, no risk of reversal) is meant to encourage the fighter to try out-of-the-box stuff. Think of this like the DCC deed die. I prefer to trigger it on minimum damage rather than max damage because it makes a good consolation prize. That way, the fighter is consistent rather than spiky and can narrate that the low damage was really just a feint to set up the maneuver.

Parry
This is classic. 1d12 repeatable may be too strong but I think it is worth a try; I just have to make sure the fighter can't walk around with too large a supply of replacement armor. To nerf it I could drop it to 1d6 or limit it to once per combat.

Threat Assessment
For example: how many HD does it have, how many mundane attacks does it have, how much damage does each attack deal, does it have any special attacks, does it have any immunities or vulnerabilities?

Notches
My take on notches demands that players and GMs collaborate to customize their game. I think of this as the fighter equivalent to the Wizard's ability to mutate spells (and I want to come up with a similar ability for the Specialist... diegetic advancement rules everything around me). Examples below.

The superpower-iness of the techniques can be negotiated based on genre and table preference. A boring solution is a list of uses of "+1d6 damage" or "guaranteed successful combat maneuver." But I prefer my fighters to become like Sekiro or Megaman -- equipped with special tools that let them replicate supernatural or quasi-magical abilities.

Ideally, the fighter will also be able to think of some out of combat uses for their techniques.

If this ends up being too many techniques, I'll probably make the fighter roll over their number of techniques on 1d6 to earn a new one.

Sentinel
As goblins in a trenchcoat explained in their fighter, opportunity attacks are a pain but more manageable as a fighter ability. I'm not sold that this ability is actually interesting enough but

Impress
I wanted a minor noncombat ability at this level. More recently I'm convincing myself that impress is really strong. I like it though so I'll probably keep it and nix sentinel if anything.

Extra Attacks
A single extra attack is just a boring damage boost. Multiple extra attacks makes the fighter a force capable of taking on overwhelming odds. So I like this better.

I require all the dice rolled at once because I hate how extra attack slows down combat.





EXAMPLE TECHNIQUES

Mundane

1. Golem - You slam your weapon into the ground and adjacent enemies must save or fall prone.
2. Cyclops - You can throw a weapon (or rock) without penalty.
3. Manticore - You can throw up to 3 knives at 3 different targets simultaneously.
4. White Ape - You reach out and snatch your enemy’s weapon; they must save or be disarmed.
5. Giant Turtle - You forgo attacking to hunker down behind your shield and cannot be damaged this round.
6. Minotaur - You can perform a charging attack, moving far and breaking past obstacles. You deal +1d6 damage to the target and yourself.
7. Mimic - You can create perfect camouflage to set up an ambush or augment a retreat.
8. Chimera - You can change the form of your weapon instantly, from something slashy to something stabby or smashy or whatever (bloodborne style).
9. Spartan King - You kick the shit of your enemy as part of your attack; they must save or be pushed (off of something tall, if you’re even a little clever).
10. Giant Tiger - You twist in the air and land on your feet like a cat. No falling damage this turn.

Quasi-Magical

1. Beholder - You lock eyes with a spellcaster and cancel their magic for a turn.
2. Rust Monster - You grab an enemy's metal equipment and they must save or it is sundered.
3. Medusa - You lock eyes with your enemy and they can’t move for a turn.
4. Dragon - You breath fire, dealing 2d6 damage in a blast.
5. Vampire - You regain HP from damage dealt by your attack.
6. Displacer Beast - You turn into a log, reducing incoming damage by 1d6 and moving.
7. Water Elemental - You attack underwater without penalty and can breath water for a round (replenishing your held breath sonic the hedgehog style).
8. Sphinx - You ask the enemy a question and they must answer truthfully or take +1d6 damage from your attack.
9. Angel - You slap an ally and they heal 1d6 HP.
10. Air Elemental - Your attack creates a slashing gust of wind, turning a melee attack into a ranged attack.