Fighter Class Discussion

Good Morning Game Fans, we’re back to continue our deeper investigation into the mysteries of Dungeons and Dragons, and how it shaped the larger roleplaying game community.  We’ve put a temporary hold on our discussion about races in fantasy roleplaying (We’ll pick back up with the races from Volo’s Guide to Monsters and the Elemental Evil Player’s Companion after this interlude).  We’re going to discuss the role of Classes in fantasy roleplaying games, and then we’ll take a look in turn at each of the character classes in the Player’s Handbook for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition.

So what is a Character Class?  In Dungeons and Dragons (and many other roleplaying games) A Character Class represents a combination of special abilities, options and skills that make up a character’s occupation.  Your Character Class helps define what options you have to interact with the larger game world, and determines whether you’re a sneaky expert, or a bold warrior, or a crafty arcane magician.  

It also serves to indicate to other players what they can expect your character to be capable of doing.   In other words, it can serve as a keyword for you to identify a variety of factors.  It’s also the second most common descriptor used to identify a character after race.  For example, “He’s a human ranger, or she’s an elven wizard.”  in the same way that people can identify as a lawyer, or a doctor or a soldier, the fantasy adventurer identifies as a barbarian, or a ranger, or a wizard.  

Fighter:

A Fighter is a singularly trained martial combat expert.  They focus exclusively on the use of weapons and armor and the best way to apply them to a given situation.  They come from all walks of life, because every society has a need for professional warriors.  They also hail from all races and backgrounds, anyone can be a fighter, after all.  

The important thing i think often overlooked among fighters is the potential diversity.  With the variety of weapons and armor options available in a typical fantasy world, a fighter can mean a lot of different things.  Is it the King’s Champion, the bold Archer, the rank and file Pikeman?  Is it a heavily armored Knight riding down his enemies on horseback, or is it a lightly armored brawler throwing axes and daggers at his or her enemies?    

Creating a Barbarian:

Why did you pick Fighter for this character?  Is your character a recent graduate of a war college, or a war veteran, or a town guardsman who’s finally decided to step out their front door and see the world?  Does your character have a favorite weapon or a preferred fighting style?  Are you comfortable in the heaviest armor you can find or would you rather be nimble and mobile?  Answering these questions can help you figure out where you fighter came from and how you’re going to want to build your character.  

Fighters have variable attribute needs based off of their preferred fighting style.  Fighters using ranged weapons are going to want to rely heavily on Dexterity.  Fighters who take a more hands on and up close approach to threat management are probably going to favor Strength.  Both character types need all the hit points they can go, so Constitution is useful.  If you are planning on taking the Eldritch Knight archetype, Intelligence is really handy.  

 

Class Features

This section contains all of the mechanically and statistically relevant information that you will need as a player to build your character.  

Hit Points:

Hit points represent the amount of damage a character can take before being incapacitated and potentially dead.  Every class has a specific range of potential hit point totals, modified by the character’s Constitution modifier.

Hit Dice: Fighters use a D10 for their hit dice, and this means that the average fighter is going to have a lot more hit points than most other classes.  The only class with a higher base hit die is the barbarian

Hit Points at 1st level: A 1st level fighter will have 10 hit points plus an additional number of hit points equal to their constitution bonus.  

Hit Points at higher levels:  Every level after first, a fighter gains an additional D10 hit die, which they can roll for hit point, or take the average value of 6.  They also get to add their Constitution modifier to whatever they roll.  The new Hit Die plus Con mod is added to their existing Maximum hit points, and they are off to the races.  

For example, a level 3 Fighter has just gained enough experience points to achieve level 4.  They roll a D10, and come up with an 8.  The player adds their Constitution bonus of +1, and this comes to an 9.  Added to the existing maximum Hit Point total of 25, the new 4th level Fighter has 34 hit points.

Proficiencies:

Proficiencies represent specific training and competency levels with a variety of weapons, armor, saving throws, tools, and skills.  When using weapons and skills your character is proficient in, as well as making saving throws of types your character is proficient with, you get to add your proficiency bonus to the die roll.  

Armor:  All Armor, Shields

Weapons: Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons

Tools: None

Saving Throws:  Strength, Constitution

Skills:  Choice of two from: Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Intimidation,  Perception, and Survival

Note: There are other ways to acquire certain proficiencies beyond the character class.  Certain races, backgrounds, and other options allow a character to pick up proficiencies outside their normal range, so if you see something you’re looking for, you might just find it in another section.  

Equipment:

Every character class has a recommended starting package of weapons and equipment.  This is an excellent way to save yourself time by grabbing a gear package and being ready to go.  All of the suggestions are laid out in a menu, and you as a player get to make one choice per bullet point for your character’s equipment.

• (a) chain mail or (b) leather, longbow and 20 arrows
• (a) martial weapon and shield or (b) two martial weapons
• (a) light crossbow and 20 bolts, or (b) two handaxes
• (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack

Class Abilities:

The majority of the remaining class description will feature a combination of special abilities and tricks that only members of this specific class have access to.  These are the other professional capabilities that define this class and separate it from the remaining ones.  They give the flavoring that make the bard play differently from the sorcerer.  They have a specific format that they’ll likely follow:

1st Level

Fighting Style

A Fighter picks up a few stylistic choices that inform the way they handle combat.  At this level, select one of the following options:

• Archery: The Fighter gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls with ranged weapons
• Defense:When wearing armor, the fighter adds +1 to his or her armor class
• Dueling: When using a melee weapon in 1 hand and no other weapons, the fighter adds +2 to damage rolls with that weapon
• Great Weapon Fighting:  When rolling damage for a weapon being used with two hands, the Fighter can re-roll dice rolls of 1 or 2.  The weapon has to either have the two handed or versatile property for this to work.  The rerolled result stands, even if it is also a 1 or 2.
• Protection:  When a creature the Fighter can see targets another creature within 5 feet of the Fighter, it can use its reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll.  The Fighter must be using a shield to use this ability
• Two Weapon Fighting: When the fighter uses two weapons, her or she can add their ability modifier damage for the second attack.  

The Fighter has options to pick up additional fighting styles, but can only select a specific fighting style once.

Second Wind

The Fighter can call on a reserve of energy to restore vitality in the middle of a battle.  On the Fighter’s turn, her or she can use a bonus action to to regain hit points equal to 1D10 + Fighter Level.  This ability recharges on a short or long rest.  

2nd level

Action Surge

The Fighter can push himself or herself beyond normal limits and squeeze every bit of action out of life.  On the Fighter’s turn, they can take an additional action on top of their normal action and a bonus action.  This ability recharges on a short or long rest.  At 17th level, the Fighter gains an additional use of this ability, but it can still only be used once per round.

3rd Level

Martial Archetype Ability 1

Depending on which Martial Archetype you select, you’ll get one of hree abilities.  I’ll cover these below when i cover the archetypes in greater detail.

4th Level

Ability Score Increase

You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point.  You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability.  Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.

5th Level

Extra Attack

When the Fighter takes the attack action, he or she can attack twice in a turn.  

6th Level

Ability Score Increase

You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point.  You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability.  Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.

7th Level

Martial Archetype Ability 2

Depending on which Martial Archetype you select, you’ll get one of three abilities.  I’ll cover these below when i cover the archetypes in greater detail.

8th Level

Ability Score Increase

You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point.  You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability.  Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.

9th Level

Indomitable

When the Fighter fails a Saving Throw, they can choose to re-roll the Saving Throw.  The second result stands, and this ability must be recharged with a long rest.  The Fighter gains an additional use of this ability at 13th and 17th levels

10th Level

Martial Archetype Ability 3

Depending on which Martial Archetype you select, you’ll get one of three abilities.  I’ll cover these below when i cover the archetypes in greater detail.

11th Level

Extra Attack (2)

When the Fighter uses the attack action, her or she can make two additional attacks instead of 1.

12th Level

Ability Score Increase

You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point.  You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability.  Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.

13th Level

Indomitable can be used a second time between long rests.

14th Level

Ability Score Increase

You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point.  You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability.  Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.

15th Level

Martial Archetype Ability 4

Depending on which Martial Archetype you select, you’ll get one of three abilities.  I’ll cover these below when i cover the archetypes in greater detail.

16th Level

Ability Score Increase

You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point.  You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability.  Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.

17th Level

Action Surge increases to two uses between rests, Indomitable increases to three uses between rests.

18th Level

Martial Archetype Ability 5

Depending on which Martial Archetype you select, you’ll get one of three abilities.  I’ll cover these below when i cover the archetypes in greater detail.

19th Level

Ability Score Increase

You can increase one ability score of your choice by two points or you can increase two different ability scores by one point.  You can’t increase an ability score over 20 using this ability.  Some games allow feats, and you can substitute a feat for an Ability Score Increase.

20th Level

Extra Attack (3)

When the Fighter uses the attack action, her or she can make three additional attacks instead of 1.

Thoughts and Ideas:

The Fighter fills a couple of specific roles in a dungeons and dragons game, the first and foremost is usually the tank.  Most party members are going to expect a heavily armored fighter stepping up and taking the front row of a combat and holding that ground.  This Fighter is certainly capable of doing so through a combination of archetype abilities, fighting styles, and potentially feats.

However, that’s not the only role that a Fighter is capable of filling.  The ranged combat Fighter is certainly a viable option, and there are a variety of weapon based feats and abilities that a Fighter can pick up along the way.  Fighters are either incredible specialists, focusing on their specific style of combat, or they are passable generalists, capable of doing a few things and holding the line.  As with all other classes, the choice of Martial Archetype can radically change a given Fighter’s combat role.  Suffice it, every Fighter should be certainly capable of managing at least one combat role in any given situation.  

Archetypes:

A character class is built to be as broadly encompassing as it can be.  There are many types of wizards in the world, and different types of fighters as well.  Each class has access to a selection of Archetypes that allow a player to further tighten up their concept and build the type of character they are specifically looking for.  Rogues have access to both thief and assassin, for example, and while they are both Rogues at heart, the abilities that each Archetype uses definitely change the way the class feels to play.  

The three Martial Archetypes offered in the Player’s Handbook for the Fighter are the Battle Master, the Champion, and the Eldritch Knight.  Each one adds a group of abilities to the core Barbarian, and they can shift the way you look at your character and the feats of awesome you might want to pull off.  

Battle Master

The Battle Master is the thinking man’s Fighter.  With a combination of fighting maneuvers and style, this Fighter can cause additional damage, push enemies around the battlefield, and control their immediate area much more efficiently than any other Fighter archetype.  Their mastery of martial combat is represented by Superiority Dice, which the Battle Master can use to trigger an assortment of effects.  

3rd Level

Combat Superiority

The Battle Master gains access to an assortment of maneuvers and a pool of Superiority Dice to activate them.  

Maneuvers:  The Battle Master learns three maneuvers at this level.  The  Battle Master also learns two additional maneuvers at 7th, 10th, and 15th Level.  When a Battle Master learns a new Maneuver, he or she can also replace a previously known maneuver with a new one.  

Superiority Dice:  The Battle Master has a pool of four Superiority Dice that take the shape of D8s.  These will improve into D10s, and D12s at higher levels

Saving Throws:  Some maneuvers force the targets to make a Saving Throw.  Calculate the DC as: 8 + Battle Master’s Proficiency Bonus + Strength or Dexterity Ability Modifier (Player’s Choice)

For a complete list of the Maneuvers, please check out page 74 of the Player’s Handbook

Student of War

The Battle Master gains proficiency in a set of artisan’s tools of choice.  

7th Level

Know Your Enemy

By spending 1 minute observing or interacting with a creature outside of combat, the Battle Master can learn information about the creature, compared to the Battle Master’s own capabilities.  The DM will tell you if the creature is equal, superior, or inferior to the Battle Master’s capabilities in two of the following categories:

Strength Score

Dexterity Score

Constitution Score

Armor Class

Current Hit Points

Total Class Levels (if any)

Fighter Levels (If any)

The Battle Master learns two additional maneuvers

10th Level

Improved Combat Superiority

The Battle Master learns two additional maneuvers and their Superiority Dice increase to D10s

15th Level

Relentless

If the Battle Master rolls initiative and has no Superiority Dice remaining, the Battle Master regains 1.

18th Level

Improved Combat Superiority

The Battle Master learns two additional maneuvers and their Superiority Dice increase to D12s

Thoughts and Ideas:

The Battle Master is the swiss army knife of the Fighter class.  It has a tool to handle any given situation and displays spectacular capabilities in a variety of combat environments.  The Superiority Dice are interesting mechanic/resource that allow the Battle Master to accomplish a variety of tasks and help them accomplish their tasks.  It’s a neat take on the Fighter, and i think they would be fun to play.  

Champion

The Champion is the traditionalist Fighter who survives on the strength of his or her arms and the sweat from his of her brow.  This Fighter isn’t built like a swiss army knife, but is much more of an overwhelming hammer blow to bludgeon his or her way through trouble.  Using overwhelming martial skill and strength, the Champion is built to tough his or her way out of any situation the find themselves in.

3rd Level

Improved Critical

The Champion scores critical hits on weapon attack rolls of 19 or 20.

7th Level

Remarkable Athlete

The Champion adds half of his or her proficiency bonus to any Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution check that doesn’t include their proficiency bonus.  Further, when the Champion makes a running long jump, the Champion adds their Strength modifier in feet covered by the jump.  

10th Level

Additional Fighting Style

The Champion can select an additional Fighting Style.

15th Level

Superior Critical

The Champion scores critical hits on weapon attack rolls of 18, 19, or 20.

18th Level

Survivor

The Champion regains 5+Constitution modifier in hit points at the beginning of each of its turns so long as the Champion is below half its starting HP.  The Champion must have at least 1 Hit Point remaining for this ability to work

Thoughts and Ideas:

The Champion is built on the idea of using superior force to go through a problem rather than thinking their way through/around a problem.  With the Improved critical hitting ability they are more likely to cause extra harm to the monsters in the way.  Their affinity for physical checks (represented by the Remarkable Athlete ability).gives them the ability to swim, climb, jump or otherwise navigate hard to manage areas.  It’s a very different Fighter than the Battle Master, but one that can find a lot of fun/trouble in an adventuring party.  

Eldritch Knight

Blending arcane magic with martial skill, the Eldritch Knight is a throwback to earlier ideas of warrior wizards, and previous editions that allowed characters to have multiple classes.  This Archetype supplements the martial prowess of the Fighter with arcane magic to produce a character that can swing a sword and still blast foes with arcane magic.  

3rd Level

Spellcasting

Through long hours of study and rigorous adherence to ancient traditions, the Eldritch Knight is capable of casting arcane spells.  Spellcasting is an incredibly dense topic that is covered in Chapter 10 of the PHB (Spellcasting) and Chapter 11 (The Spell Lists).  I’m going to cover the basics of how Spellcasting is affected by being all that is Eldritch Knight, but you should definitely check out both of those chapters before slinging spells.

Cantrips

The Eldritch Knight knows two cantrips from the Wizard spell list.  As the Eldritch Knight gains more experience, they learn more cantrips.

Spell Slots

The Eldritch Knight has a limited number of slots that they can use to cast magical spells.  There’s a big table on page 75 that will tell you how many spell slots of each level you have available.  In order to cast a spell, you need to have a spell slot of the appropriate level or higher available.  Casting the spell expends the spell slot.  All expended spell slots recover with a long rest.

Note 1:  Some spells work better when cast with higher level spell slots.

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

An Eldritch Knight knows 3 1st level spells at 3st level, and there’s a handy chart on page 75 that shows an Eldritch Knight when they learn more spells.

Spellcasting Ability

Intelligence is the spellcasting attribute an Eldritch Knight uses.  The Eldritch Knight’s depth of understanding of the ancient secrets of magic power their arcane spells.  What this means in game terms is as follows:

• Spell Save DC = 8 +Eldritch Knight’s Proficiency Bonus + Eldritch Knight’s Intelligence Modifier
• Spell Attack Modifier = Eldritch Knight’s Proficiency Bonus + Eldritch Knight’s Intelligence Modifier

Weapon Bond

Through their extensive study of arcane magic, the Eldritch Knight can bond with weapons.  As long as the bonded weapon is on the same plane of existence, the Eldritch Knight can use a bonus action to summon it to their hand, as a teleportation effect.  The Eldritch Knight can bond with two weapons at a time.  The ritual to bond with a weapon takes 1 hour, and the weapon needs to be at hand.

7th Level

War Magic

When the Eldritch Knight takes an action to cast a cantrip, they can make a weapon attack as a bonus action.

10th Level

Eldritch Strike

When the Eldritch Knight hits a creature, it suffers disadvantage on a saving throw against the next spell the Eldritch Knight casts before the end of it’s next turn.

15th Level

Arcane Charge

The Eldritch Knight can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space when using the Action Surge ability.  The Eldritch Knight can Teleport before or after the additional action.

18th Level

Improved War Magic.  

When the Eldritch Knight uses an action to cast a spell they can use their bonus action to make a weapon attack.

Thoughts and Ideas:

Capitalizing on older ideas of Fighter/Wizard hybrids, the Eldritch Knight is a very functional synthesis of arcane magic and martial power.  I like the class and how it creatively interweaves both sources of power.  This is one of my personal favorite archetypes we’ve reviewed so far.  If you’re looking to play a wizard that can hit people, or a fighter who knows a few spells, this is definitely your jam.  

Conclusions:

The Fighter is a staple of fantasy role-playing and is often included in a party just because they’re so prevalent.  The current edition gives Fighters a lot of interesting options and choices for how they want to be built, and you can build them in a variety of interesting ways and choices.  In a game that allows Feats, be certain to consider those additional resources because they replace Ability Score Increases, something a Fighter has in abundance.  

Making the Fighter your own is about making decisions and choosing specializations and abilities that further enhance the direction you want to take your character.  The fighter’s keyword is Specialization, and you can take your specialization options to the moon and back.  Figure out the character you want to build within the Fighters archetypes and build the rest of the fighter to support those abilities.  

So that’s our take on the Fighter, next week we’ll be back with our friend the Monk.  See you then, Game Fans.