GM's Tip of the Week
Hello, fellow Portalites! Continuing the class examination, this week we’re looking at the humble fighter. I got Andi to write this one, as he tends to end up playing a lot of fighters, in a number of systems. This week’s entry is somewhat Pathfinder/3.5e-centric, but may be useful to those of you running other systems. If you /are/ running other systems, and would like to chime in either as player or GM, please do!
In the meantime… onward! To fighters!
Of all the martial classes, the Fighter tends to get a bad rep – he is supposed to be good at warfare, but to the minds of many players, isn’t, held back by his inability to perform that basic role. I happen to think that the niche of the Fighter is misunderstood. It’s not the skirmisher – Rogues and Rangers do that, and arguably better. It’s not the archer, although he can excel in that role; it’s not the Crusader, smashing enemies of the faith and bolstering his allies – that’s the Paladin’s niche. It’s not cavalry, that is where Cavaliers excel, and it’s not at the head of a charge – that is the realm of the Barbarian.
The Fighter’s particular niche in play is that of heavy infantry, of defender, of anchor. He provides stability to the group, allowing everyone else the freedom to maneuver to do their thing. Properly played, a single Fighter can hold his ground against multiple enemies; he is too expensive to bypass, and too well-protected to seriously injure. There are many ways to accomplish this – multiple takes on the classical sword-and-shield build, others branching out into the skirmisher role using two weapons and replacing the protection gained from a shield with higher dexterity and choice of feats. I have not personally experimented with a ‘shieldbreaker’ build (two-handed weapon) yet, but I cannot imagine a defensive shieldbreaker to anchor a line would not also be quite effective.
Beyond his use in combat, a Fighter brings more utility than is obvious. While he only has a limited amount of skill points (something I recommend amending by house-rule), the attribute tax of an above-average intelligence required for some feats ensures he has at least four skill points to play with before other bonuses. These are completely free, as very few of the Fighter’s core combat functions depend on skills, and can go into anything from Craft: (item category) to Diplomacy to wilderness survival skills. Built as an archer, a Fighter is a grave threat, capable of bypassing damage reduction, firing into close-combat situations, with almost unerring precision and great effect.
In terms of mechanics, a Fighter should always look for ways to either improve his odds of hitting a target, or increasing “static” (non-random) damage modifiers, balancing that with protective abilities. He may not be able to beat the +100 of a Cavalier on a mounted charge, but he does not need to: the Cavalier depends on him to anchor the enemy and keep them in place. Rather, he does his smaller amount of damage consistently, independent of situation. The Fighter’s goal is not to unleash the most pain of everyone on the field. His goal is to unleash /enough/ pain to make ignoring him too expensive.