Your Friendly Neighborhood Fighter-Man: The Academy Guide to Fighters

 

Fighter-Man, Fighter-Man, does whatever a fighter can. Wields a weapon any size, kills monsters just like flies. Look out, here comes the Fighter-Man! Is he strong? Listen, bud, he's got hit points in his blood. Can he swing from a rope? His 10 DEX says nope. Look out, there falls the Fighter-Man! Fighter-Man, Fighter-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Fighter-Man! Wealth and fame, he wants more. XP is his reward. To him, life is a great big rattle, wherever there's a battle, you'll find the Fighter-Man!-sung to the tune of the Spider-Man theme song.

Soldiers, gladiators, guards, thugs, that bully who shakes you down for your lunch money after class, (I really should do something about him. I was left deafened after that last PTA meeting. Fixing that was not cheap. I suppose that's what I get for hiring a Cleric of Abadar as the school nurse.) they all have one thing in common. The ability to grab a weapon (or use none at all, much to the consternation of monks) and inflict grievous damage and do it better than any other class. The Fighter has deep roots in RPGs, dating all the way back to the original Dungeons and Dragons game where they were known as Fighting Man. Since then, they have been a core staple of practically any RPG you care to name. Much like how a real military unit will always have a need for infantry, a role-playing party will always have a need for warriors who will carve up the enemy like a Thanksgiving turkey and laugh as the party wizard loses his lunch at the sight.

Why Use a Fighter?

I will always maintain that a fighter is the ideal class for beginners. Unlike other classes, the Fighter does not have a subclass (i.e. Rogue's Racket, Champion's Cause, Ranger's Hunter's Edge, etc.), which greatly simplifies things. Additionally, the Fighter does not have a lot of skills. They are there to kill the enemy. Their excellence in combat is hard to beat and without a lot of special features, this makes them the ideal class for new players to play as while they learn the game mechanics.

However, don't let that scare you off if you are an experienced player. The Fighter may be simple, but that does not mean that he is ineffective, underpowered, or one-dimensional. The Fighter is a very effective class that verges on overpowered. He starts out with Expert proficiency in simple and martial weapons, in addition to unarmed attacks. He progresses faster in weapon proficiency than any other class. This gives him a much higher attack bonus, which in turn, gives him a higher chance to score a critical hit.

Even better, the Fighter has a ton of versatility. They can use practically any weapon and are given feats corresponding to that fighting style. Two-Handed Fighting, Two-Weapon Fighting, Sword and Shield, Single Weapon, Archery, or Unarmed or all valid picks for the Fighter. You can focus on Strength or Dexterity. The options are limitless.

Fighter is always a good class to pick due to their ridiculously high Attack Bonus, good hit points, numerous options, decent saves (even Will saves get better after a while), and excellent feat selection. If you could care less about role-playing and just want to kill the enemy, this is your class.

Opportunity Knocks: Why Attack of Opportunity is Your Friend

Attack of Opportunity is one of the chief reasons you should play a Fighter. While other classes do get AoO, they don't get it until Level 6 and they have to burn a feat. Fighter gets it for free at Level 1 and this gives them a huge advantage over other martial classes. Getting a Level 6 feat right at the beginning is like a Wizard being able to cast Fireball or Haste at Level 1.

What is this marvelous class feature and why is it so great? Attack of Opportunity is a reaction that allows you to gain a free attack against any enemy who moves into a square you threaten. If the enemy moves into a square that you can reach with your melee weapon, you get to roll a free attack. This is especially good if you are using a reach weapon like a halberd or guisarme because that area will double as you have a 10-foot reach. This gives you a huge advantage as the enemy usually has to get past you to get to the rest of the party and this makes it a lot more difficult than getting past a Ranger or a Monk.

Another good tactic is to attack twice and to step back on the 3rd action. Since attacking 3 times is largely pointless due to the multiple attack penalty, moving is a sound tactic. However, moving 5 feet back when you have AoO takes it from being a sound tactic to a brilliant one. Because now the enemy will have to come to you and will trigger AoO in order to get to you. So, you have just gained another attack without having to worry about that penalty. Free hits are always great. Never forget that your goal in combat is to kill the enemy as quickly as possible. The sooner the enemy dies, the less chance you have to burn through healing potions, spells, and Battle Medicine. It also means you and your buddies live to fight another day.

Power and Glory: How to Decide Between STR and DEX

One major decision you have to make when creating your Fighter is deciding whether to have Strength or Dexterity as your primary stat. This is an important decision because it will determine your fighting style, feat choice and your Fighter's overall path from character creation until either he dies or hits max level.

First, we have Strength. Let's be honest. If you are going to fight in melee, odds are you are going to pick STR. Unless you are using a weapon with the Finesse trait, you are going to depend heavily on STR to make that attack role. Even if you are using a weapon with the Finesse trait, you will still depend on STR for damage. STR also determines what armor you can wear and how much you can carry. It is also vital to the Athletics skill, which is usually a top skill choice for Fighters. As Athletics is needed to use a variety of combat maneuvers such as Trip, Shove, or Disarm, you will likely want to focus on STR. I consider STR to be the stat of choice for most melee Fighters.

Now, let's talk about Dexterity. DEX is vital for any type of ranged combat. I don't care if you're launching arrows, bolts, bullets, your neighbor's cat, you need DEX for these attacks to hit. That's not all DEX is good for. DEX governs a lot more class skills than STR could ever hope to do. Acrobatics, Stealth, and Thievery all depend on DEX to be useful. Focusing on DEX can help turn your Fighter into an effective scout and thief in addition to a killing machine. 

In some cases, DEX is also good for melee warriors. Yes, I know that I said that STR is typically better, but this is not always the case. In the case of Finesse weapons, DEX is important, and you can still have enough STR to put some bite into it.  You can focus on DEX and make a fencer or a duelist. It's a good build if you want to use feats like Snagging Strike, which require you to have a free hand.

Let's take a minute to talk about the other stats. Do not forget their importance in building your Fighter. First, we have Constitution. Never neglect CON for any melee character. CON determines your HP in addition to your Fortitude saves. Melee Fighters with low CON tend to have short careers. It should be a priority for STR-based Fighters right after STR. Crank it up to 16. For DEX-based Fighters, it isn't as important. If your archer is getting hit a lot, you are definitely doing something wrong. For finesse Fighters, crank it up to 12 but don't obsess over it. Wear some light armor and you should be fine.

Next, we have Intelligence. Don't even bother with INT. It is your dump stat. Magi, Wizards, and Investigators are going to do a lot better with Arcana and Society. Crafting is a different matter. Never forget that a shield can take damage when using Shield Block. Even so, your Crafting skill should be fine. Better yet, have another party member do it for you. Leave it at 10.

Then, we have Wisdom. Always put points into WIS. WIS governs your Will saves, which are going to be low at the beginning to begin with. It also determines Perception, which you are going to want. You will want it to be as high as possible in initiative or to be able to spot hidden traps, which is of particular importance if you are fulfilling a scout role. I would say pump it to 12, 14 if you select an ancestry that has a WIS bonus or has a third stat boost.

Finally, we have Charisma. CHA is good for one thing, Intimidation. You will never have the CHA to outdo a Bard or Champion in talking, so don't bother. But Intimidation isn't just for dialogue checks. You can also use the skill check to Demoralize the enemy in combat. This gets even better if you have Intimidating Glare, as you don't need to know the enemy's language in order to scare them. Frightened enemies are easier to kill enemies.

Skills and Feats

Skills and feats are important in building any class and the Fighter is no exception. Choosing the wrong things can mess up your character and result in a sub-optimal build. So, let's start with skills. What you choose really depends on your build. For STR-based Fighters, focus on Athletics. Athletics checks come up a lot and it always a good skill to have. For DEX-based Fighters, go with Acrobatics, Stealth, and Thievery. These skills are all very useful and will turn you into an ideal scout. Don't forget to buy thieves' tools.

Your Fighter will be automatically trained in your choice of Athletics or Acrobatics. You should have 3 other skills without an additional INT modifier, which you shouldn't have, assuming you followed my advice. So, what to pick? If you are a STR-based Fighter, I recommend Medicine, Survival, and Intimidation. Your WIS should be decent and those 2 skills are pretty good as I don't recommend knowledge skills for Fighters. You are there to kill the enemy, not tell the rest of the party how many times that demon goes to the bathroom. Medicine allows you to help with healing the wounded (Don't forget to buy healer's tools.) This is especially important as you can't always guarantee that there will be a priest in your party and knowing how to heal is always useful. Survival does not come up a whole lot in skill checks (unless you are in the wilderness.) but when it does, you'll be glad to have it. I've already outlined how useful Intimidation is. Even if you are an ancestry that takes a CHA penalty, it is still worth putting the points into. The skill is that useful for a Fighter. For a DEX-based fighter, it gets a little more restrictive as you have already selected 3 skills. Take Survival as I feel it synergizes well with Stealth and Thievery and helps you in your role as a scout.

For starting feats, it depends on the fighting style. Two-handers should pick Sudden Charge. Being able to get 3 actions for the price of 2 is never bad and getting to the enemy quicker to carve them up with your 1d12 Greatsword can only help your party. For shield users, Reactive Shield. You won't always be able to use an action to raise your shield and taking this will help you live to fight another day. Archers should take Point Blank shot as it eliminates the penalty for volley weapons and makes you lethal whether the enemy is 100 feet away or right in your face. Single-weapon users should take Snagging Strike as it makes the enemy flat-footed and gives the rest of the party a much easier chance to hit your target. Dual-wielders should go with Double Slice as it is great for dealing with damage resistance and gives you the opportunity to attack with both weapons at the full attack bonus. Anything after these feats is up to you, but my advice should give you a good foundation for the rest of your build.

Recruitment Center: Ancestry and Background

Now, it is time to choose your ancestry and background. These are important as they grant you skill and stat boosts in addition to special feats. You have dozens of options, so rather than going down the long list, I will offer you my selections in accordance with the Core Rulebook.

For ancestries, I recommend the following. Human will always be the can't go wrong ancestry. No stat penalties, two boosts, and some very good feats. Unconventional Weaponry is a good feat to have. General Training, Natural Ambition, and Natural Skill are also very good. Dwarf makes an excellent melee fighter. They get boosts to CON and WIS, and you can put the free boost into STR. Darkvision is wonderful and the Clan Dagger is an excellent throwing weapon or off-hand option for two-weapon fighting. Their slow speed is a drawback, but Unburdened Iron can fix this. Orcs are also an excellent option for STR-based fighters. They get bonuses to STR and CON, two very important stats for a fighter. They also get Darkvision and can, with the right build, get Diehard and Orc Ferocity. This makes them very difficult to kill. No free boost, but the special feature is worth the trade-off. Halflings make for good ranged Fighters due to their DEX and WIS boosts. Halfling Weapon Familiarity gives them the Halfling Sling Staff as a martial weapon, which does a lot of damage. Composite Shortbow is also a good option. I do not recommend the Elf as an archer. The DEX bonus is nice, but the INT boost is worthless and the CON penalty really hurts. They can perform well as an archer in other classes, but Fighter is a bad choice for them. As for backgrounds, there are some good choices. Bounty Hunter, Laborer, Martial Disciple, Scout, and Warrior are all good.

The Right to Bear Arms: Weapon Selection

Weapon selection is critical. This is true for any class, but doubly for the Fighter. The Fighter lives or dies by his weapon. So, here are the Professor's picks. Two-Handed Fighter should use Greatsword or Greataxe. 1d12 damage is awesome and the quicker you kill the enemy, the better. Guisarme is also a good choice. The damage is less, but the longer reach allows you to utterly abuse AoO.

For shield-users, Longsword, Battleaxe, and Warhammer are all solid choices. 1d8 damage is good. If you have a human with the Unconventional Weaponry feat, pick Gnome Flickmace. The damage is less, but it has the distinction of being on of the few one-handed weapons with the reach trait, giving you the rare opportunity to abuse AoO.

Archers should use the Longbow. Later on, they should fork over the gold to buy a Composite Longbow, as the weapon allows them to use their STR bonus to increase damage. The Halfling Sling Staff is a good choice for Halflings as is the Composite Shortbow and Sling.

Finesse Fighters should go with the Rapier. You will crit a lot more with a Fighter, so take advantage of that additional deadly d8 damage if you crit. Dual-Wielders should pick a solid weapon for the main hand like a Longsword. For the off-hand, pick a weapon with the agile trait. Shortsword is a good pick as it does 1d6 damage. If you are a Dwarf, save yourself the gold and use your Clan Dagger.

Don't forget armor. Killing the enemy is great but I also want you to make sure you stay alive long enough to kill them. STR-based Fighters should start with Chainmail. It's flexible and you're not likely worried about Stealth. Buy Full Plate Mail when you hit Level 2. It's the best protection for a warrior and it has the bulwark trait, which will do more for your Reflex saves than your pitiful DEX ever could. For DEX-based fighters, start with Leather Armor. Archers should stay away from the front and Finesse Fighters will depend more on DEX for their AC. You also don't want to wear anything that greatly hinders Acrobatics or Stealth. Sometimes, I don't even bother with armor for DEX characters as I find the encumbrance and armor check penalty to be more of a hindrance than a help.

For gear, I recommend the Adventurer's Pack as it has all of the basic supplies you need. Take a Climbing Kit to make those climbing check easier for you and the less athletic members of the party. A Crowbar is good for forcing things open. Shield users with Crafting should bring a Repair Kit. Those with the Medicine skill should bring Healer's Tools. Thievery users should bring Thieves' Tools. Don't forget that you only start with 15 GP. Buy weapons first, then armor, then the Adventurer's Pack, and everything else if you can afford it. You'll make more GP after each adventure, so you do not need to buy everything at once.

Prepare for Battle!

Well, there it is. My guide to the Fighter. I hope you all found it to be enjoyable and informative. Keep in mind that this isn't ironclad. It is, after all, your character. But if you take my advice, I promise that you will find the going easier and your game more enjoyable. Don't forget to comment and share on social media. Class Dismissed!