There's been quite a lot of discussion around this already, mainly around the shove bonus action, which is the current "solution". Rather than just bashing the bonus action shove, I would like to propose a different solution, because I understand the need for more to do in a low-level co-op video game. I think my solution would create more choice as well as retaining balance.
The idea is to give the attack action more options, where each choice has a positive effect, a negative effect, and sometimes a prerequisite. This will make every attack a choice depending on the situation, as well as give more difference to weapon types. This solution would be overly complicated for tabletop, but this isn't tabletop, so hell yeah!
Examples of these special types of attacks (Specific numbers untested of course):
[b]Jump attack[/b]
Positive: Due to the added weight behind the blow, your attack will deal +3 damage of the weapon's type.
Negative: You telegraph your attack so clearly, the enemy gains +1 AC for this attack.
Prerequisite: You need to move at least 10 feet straight towards the enemy for the jump.
When to use: It's generally a pretty good deal like the GWM feat against lower AC enemies. Sometimes you might want to move away from an enemy a little to be able to do this.
[b]Wide sweep[/b]
Positive: Your attack can hit two enemies right next to each other.
Negative: Both enemies will take half damage
Prerequisite: Two enemies next to each other
When to use: Two enemies are next to each other and one has low HP.
[b]All in[/b]
Positive: A risky move to finish off an enemy, +3 to the attack and damage roll.
Negative: If the enemy survives, they get an Attack of Opporunity on you.
Prerequisite: None
When to use: An enemy is nearly dead, or they've already used their reaction. Can also improve team-work, someone can bait reactions.
[b]Go for the... arms? boo![/b]
Positive: On a hit, the target's arm is wounded, giving them a -2 to all attack rolls.
Negative: The arm is not that vital a body part, the damage roll get a -2.
Prerequisite: Stand on the side of the enemy holding a weapon.
When to use: When an enemy can't be killed quickly, it's a great debuff.
[b]Armor breaker[/b]
Positive: Aiming for vital armor parts reduces the AC of the target by 2.
Negative: The attack focuses on the armor, it does half damage to the target.
Prerequisite: A blunt weapon and a target wearing plated armor
When to use: A target is heavily armored, taking down the AC a bit will help a lot for future hits. Also makes blunt weapons a bit more unique.
[b]Slash Achilles heel[/b]
Positive: A target hit by this has their speed reduced by half until the end of their next turn.
Negative: If the target is the same size or smaller than the user, the target has a +4 AC to the attack, due to the Achilles heel being hard to reach.
Prerequisite: A slashing weapon.
When to use: Mainly on larger enemies to keep them away from squishies.
I could come up with more, but I think the idea is clear. A standard attack should still be possible too of course.
When you click to attack an enemy, a menu could pop-up next to the enemy with all the options and some tooltips on mouse hover.
I believe that this will make each attack a bit more meaningful, without stepping on the Battlemaster's toes. It would also be better than the bonus action shove, because one attack type is not always the best thing to do, so it actually is a choice. Shove can just be one of the options of this special attack. the positioning prerequisites are an easy way of making some good things slightly more situationally useful.
Not sure, if similar ideas have already been discussed, I wouldn't be surprised. Nonetheless, I'm very curious what people here would think of such a solution. As a single player I don't mind having fighters with few options at low level, but I can imagine if you're playing with four people and you don't have the possibility of describing your attack in a cool way, it gets old quick.
