In Pathfinder’s new Daredevil playtest, players are at last rewarded for doing the thing that they were going to do already.
Let me describe to you an all too common scenario. A party of brave but cautious adventurers has come upon a rare chance to ambush their enemies. They watch carefully, trying to take note of the enemy’s disposition. As the seconds creep by (and after about an hour of real time has passed), one of the bored players shouts, “I rush in and swing.” Initiative and chaos ensue.
And yet, this is the principle at the heart of the new Daredevil class(out for playtest now). They are all about being the ones who “rush headlong where others fear to tread, heedless of any dangers.” Being surrounded by enemies? Facing overwhelming odds? This is actual literal fuel for their abilities. And if you play one, you, too, can be rewarded for doing exactly what you were going to do anyway.
Pathfinder Daredevil Playtest
So what makes the Daredevil tick? This new class is all about fighting with panache and no small amount of disregard for your personal safety. You’ll fight with martial weapons and light armor (or unarmored defense) and do all the agile/finesse type fighter things. However, the big new mechanic here is Adrenaline.
Adrenaline is the fuel for your abilities. It’s how you do cool daredevil things. And it’s gained thanks to a new trait: Risky. Some actions have the Risky trait inherently, others, the GM may determine have the Risky trait – like sprinting across hazardous terrain or leaping a chasm. Usually, a Risky action will either automatically deal damage to you or risk dealing damage if you fail a skill check or a saving throw. That’s what you’re risking. Whenever you do a Risky Action, you gain Adrenaline until the start of your next turn.
Adrenaline Benefits
Having Adrenaline gives you a number of benefits. For one, most of your Daredevil Stunts (your special class abilities) require you to have Adrenaline. For two, while you have Adrenaline, whenever you make an attack with the “press trait” your multiple action penalty is lowered. And three, whenever you have adrenaline and force a target to move you can deal Stunt Damage by slamming them into a wall, pillar, or some other part of the scenery, dealing an extra 1d6 + Strength damage (which increases every four levels).
So the core of the Daredevil flow in this playtest might look something like: take a risky action, gain Adrenaline. Use that Adrenaline to make a bunch of attacks, or do a Daredevil Stunt, and then slam a creature into the wall while doing so.
Actually you’ll be doing a surprising amount of “pushing off of” enemies. Especially since at 1st level you’ll also gain Propelling Striges, which lets you push yourself off of a wall or large enough creature and gain a +10 foot circumstance bonus to speed.
Even a look at some of the 1st-level Daredevil Stunts reveals a lot of “pushing off.” You might flip over an enemy with the Flying Hurdle Stunt, or push your enemy away while leaping backwards with the Forceful Kickoff Stunt. There’s a lot of movement, even at 1st level, for a Daredevil.
The Daredevil At Higher Levels
At higher levels, you gain even more audacious abilities. At 3rd level, Deny Advantage prevents you from being caught Off-Guard by hidden, undetected, or flanking creatures of your level or lower. While Galvanized Mobility gives you a +1 (or +2 if you have Adrenaline) bonus against Reaction attacks. And Will Expertise gives you expert proficiency with Will saves, so you never need to worry about giving in to fear.
As a Daredevil, you’re a weapon-using class. And that means you gain the whole Weapon Expertise->Specialization->Mastery chain at levels 5, 7, and 13. At 7th level, you gain Evasive Reflexes, giving you master Reflex save proficiency, as well as making any Reflex save success a critical success instead.
But the real kickers are the higher-level Daredevil specific things. Like Stunt Flexibility and Improved Stunt Flexibility which let you swap out Daredevil feats whenever you do your daily preparations. Or Daredevil’s Fortitude, which gives you Evasion but for Fortitude saves as well. The whole class caps off with Enduring Adrenaline which now gives you temporary hit points equal to half your level whenever you gain Adrenaline – though these THP only last until the end of your next turn.
All in all, the class lives fast. It’s about mitigating the risks you take by fighting. If you’re always doing something, you’re always going to be in the middle of it. I think this class might suffer especially from crowd control effects – if you can’t take an action you can’t gain Adrenaline, if you can’t gain Adrenaline you are especially vulnerable. But it’s built-in that you can gain Adrenaline just by moving – so as long as a Daredevil can move, they can fight.
Take the fast-moving, hard-fighting Daredevil for a spin yourself at the link below!
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