Fighter Club

It occurs to me, that I’ve played more than a couple types of Fighter now, in 5e, and I could probably do a break down of my experiences thus far, and it might be worthwhile advise for someone who might just be starting down the path of D&D, so here it goes.

Let me start out by saying that the Fighter is a lot more as a class than it used to be. There are a number of Fighter archetypes, and fighting styles and potential access to more feats than other classes, that all together, make it an extremely versatile martial class, having more options by far than they ever have before.

So what does a Fighter have in their kit that makes them so versatile? Well, you get to make a choice that will define your style right at first level, particularly, your fighting style. Six choices are open to you, Archery, Defense, Dueling (aka Sword and Board), Great Weapon Fighting, Protection, and Two Weapon Fighting. Second Wind, a self healing ability, then at level 2, Action Surge, did you just do an awesome thing? Cool do it again, or something else!?! Once per short rest, both! That’s some pretty awesome kit for two levels of a character class. Now those of you that know me, know I don’t always think highly of multiclassing, but as far as the economics of gain for levels, those two levels of Fighter are pretty awesome for any type of character that wants to fight with any weapon.

Other basic class features? Extra attack, Indomitable, (to reroll a save) then everything after that is more of the same if you stick with Fighter all the way, up to two Action Surges, three Indomitables, and three Extra Attacks. Now that’s the basics, some solid core features, and a fighting style to start you down your path. Where do we go next? Well, let’s take a look at the archetypes, we’re going to look at only the ones that are currently published:

• Champion – PHB – This is your basic bog standard Fighter, there aren’t many moving parts, everything a Fighter does, the Champion just doesn’t it a bit better. Improved Critical (so you crit on a 19 or 20), Remarkable Athlete (the biggest benefit here is a boost to initiative), another Fighting Style, more Improved Critical (crit goes up to 18 to 20), with the cap stone ability of Survivor, so that when they drop below half health they start regenerating HP, at a not insignificant rate. This is the build for Fighters that want to SMASH! Also very popular among those that just want to multiclass for a few levels of Fighter.
• Battle Master – PHB – This one is objectively the most 4th edition character archetype that survived the transition to 5e. They get to select a bunch of maneuvers and they get a new resource, superiority dice, it makes them very versatile, they can be ranged, they can be melee, they have great stuff for both. As they level they get more and better superiority dice, and they pick up more and more maneuvers to use. They also get the rather unique ability to Know their Enemies, and learn some of their stats and saves. Always an excellent choice for those that wanna make a more tactical character with lots of options for every situation.
• Eldritch Knight – PHB – This one is your classic Fighter/Mage, they get Wizard spells for evocation and abjuration, and they get to form a bond with their weapon and do some Jedi weapon fetching stuff. Also they get to use their bonus action to make a weapon attack after they they cast their spells, with War Magic, and cut through their arcane defenses with Eldritch Strike, and develop a short range teleport on their Action Surge ability, with Arcane Charge. Not the most popular choice, but it’s an interesting stab at a classic multiclass build, that allows an arcane spellcaster to also wear heavy armor.
• Purple Dragon Knight – SCAG – This one is a pretty awesome support fighter, I’ve never seen anyone play it, but I’d like to. Starts out with Rallying Cry, when you use your Second Wind, you can heal up to 3 allies within 60 feet, for hp equal to your fighter level. Not a lot, but pretty good really, and it’s a bonus action, beats the heck out of Healing Word. Royal Envoy, social upgrades, very on brand for this noble type fighter. Inspiring Surge, when you spend your Action Surge, choose one or two (at higher level) allies to make ranged or melee attacks as their reaction. Finally they have Bulwark, which let’s you share Indomitable with an ally within 60 feet when you use it yourself on a int/wis/cha saving throw. I really like the design of this, it doesn’t layer anything else on top of the Fighter, it takes everything that they already do, and let’s you let your allies too. I place it in the middle of tactical options between the Champion and the Battle Master, offering you some tactical abilities to support and enhance your allies, while not being so complex that you have to manage superiority dice and a suite of additional maneuver mechanics.
• Arcane Archer – XGtE – This one is a call back to one of the Prestige classes of 3rd edition D&D, that required you having Fighter levels and Wizard levels, and being an Elf. Now, they’ve gone full on Fighter, removed the hybrid caster element, so as not to crowd the Eldritch Knight, and given them a whole slew of Arcane Shots. These Arcane shots give you some bonus damage, and various options for area damage or crowd control effects, pretty neat if you wanna make a Hawkeye style archer that has a funky arrow for every situation. Curving Shot at level 7 seems pretty cool, let’s you take another shot at another target within 60 ft if you miss a shot. Ever Ready Shot at level 15 is a decent cap stone to give you some sustainability when there’s no time to do a short rest after every encounter, but I think the limit of two uses of your Arcane Shots between rest, that never improves seems a bit low. But Fighters are pretty dependent on taking rests after each fight already, so maybe it’s not too big a drag.
• Cavalier – XGtE – Has some cool features for mounts, but doesn’t make you dependent on them. Bonus proficiency is always nice for a class that doesn’t get many to start. This is by the far the best Fighter for making a big ole brick of a tank. Born in the Saddle, and Ferocious Charger can combine really well with the Mounted Combatant feat, while Unwavering Mark (a mechanic revived from 4e, and given new life finally), Hold the Line, and Vigilant Defender combined with the Sentinel Feat, really make it viable for you to just advance, take the dodge action and, let your foes miss you or swing at your allies and face your responding attacks. I’ve played one of these and while the damage output isn’t great, it’s really fun if you wanna play the party’s heavy, and be their bulwark. The Heavy Armor Master feat at low levels makes this type of build even more durable. Or you could always go for Polearm Master and Sentinel for some really wild swinging.
• Samurai – XGtE – Much like the Purple Dragon Knight, and the Cavalier, the Extra proficiency and Elegant Courtier abilities set these Fighters apart as being from the higher class, socially, putting them on par with a Paladin somewhat, and making them good stand ins for a Paladin if you’re running a low magic setting like say, Dragonlance. Fighting Spirit seems very powerful, using a bonus action to gain advantage on your attack rolls until the end of your turn, and 5 temporary hp. This seems pretty awesome for a front line fighter who wants to use a big two hander and still have the endurance to hold the front line, limited to 3 uses, and only refreshes on a long rest, which seems odd for anything fighter based, but at level 10 you get Tireless Spirit which lets you regain a use if you have none left at the start of each initiative. Rapid Strike at level 15, let’s you trade advantage on an attack roll, during an attack action on your turn to gain an extra attack as part of that attack. That’s pretty neat. As an example, at level 15, a fighter would have 3 attacks as their attack action, so you could use your Fighting Spirit, get advantage on all your attacks, give up advantage on one of those, to gain another, so four attacks, 3 with advantage, then you can action surge for 3 more, that also have advantage… That’s a fair amount of attacks. Finally Strength before Death, a pretty awesome cap stone ability at 18, when you would be dropped to 0, you get to immediately take a turn, as an interrupt, that’s pretty bad ass.

Well, that’s my take on Fighters, so far I’ve tried the Champion, the Battlemaster, and the Cavalier, but maybe I’ll try the Samurai next time. After dealing with the frustration of having my Waterdeep character slain by Xanathar, last week, being almost utterly helpless while my allies die, able to do practically nothing while in the anti magic eye beam, and unable to escape it. I’m ready to play another character that’s not at all dependent on magic.

All that aside, hope you’ve found at least something informative here, and maybe now you can make a slightly more informed choice, as to your Fighter archetype. And as always, until next time, remember, it’s always darkest, before the Don.