dex fighter?

[Celestian]

Is it possible to make a dex fighter? I've been poking around trying to figure out how to make one but it all comes back to his "to hit" which requires strength.

Maybe I'm missing something so I'm asking here. Is it possible to make a "viable" dex fighter these days? I've always preferred the agil/quick "fighter" who dodges/parries over the big tank that gets hit a lot and just takes it.

Anyone have any tips?

[xXElaDriNDrizZztXx]

Depends, a good agile great weapon fighter is a Githzerai because they can feat to +2 damage and a fullblade which does a d-12... You get Dex/wis and you can put points into strength.... It sorta evens out. Dual wielding agile? I have no idea how to start with that because it doesn't seem viable. Maybe I'm wrong but dual wielding fighters don't seem too great for their purpose besides that dual shield wielding fighter.

OR with the new Dragon Magazine feats you can make an elf and do the same concept with a Falchion or two Scimitars... Except you're swinging with a +2 weapon instead.

[Kingreaper]

Is it possible to make a dex fighter? I've been poking around trying to figure out how to make one but it all comes back to his "to hit" which requires strength.

Maybe I'm missing something so I'm asking here. Is it possible to make a "viable" dex fighter these days? I've always preferred the agil/quick "fighter" who dodges/parries over the big tank that gets hit a lot and just takes it.

Anyone have any tips?

A tempest fighter relies heavily on dex, as does a grappling fighter IIRC.

A rogue is primary dex, and is a kind of "fighter"; in that they are purely martial.

If you want a weak fighter (as opposed to a dexterous but also strong fighter) you'll want to go rogue most likely.

[Larrin]

welllll.....If you want a mechanically Dex dependent fighter.....

You could take melee training(Dex), This lets you use dex for basic melee attacks, so your OA and marking features benefit from it. On that theme you should look for powers that set up basic attacks....though i'm not sure how many there are really. For dailies aim for stances or reliables, or ones you don't care if you hit with with good riders. Some Powers let you add Dex to atack (? or is it damage?) those powers usually depend on a weapon. look those up and use them for your encounters....

I don't know any names of such powers off the top of my head, but if you have the character builder, just follow those guidlines as you choose powers. Otherwise, hopefully someone has better fighter-power knowledge than me.

[Herschel]

Going with a 16 strength and a +3 proficiency weapon should do fairly well, especially if it's a Githzerai or Eladrin with racial weapon feats.

That said, for agile (I read: mobile) a Swordmage might be your best bet. They're INT vs. DEX, but you want a little DEX for feats anyway, most likely.

[Mengu]

If you want a dex (game mechanically) primary "warrior", the answer is rogue, monk, or assassin.

If you want an actual fighter with good dex, there are a few options, all of which require strength as your primary stat, with dex a strong secondary.

If you just want any melee type with high dex, then avenger and barbarian also become options. While not exactly the image you're probably looking for, druids also do melee and have high dex, and a sorcerer can also be built to operate in melee with high dex.

There are options galore, but if you want the fighter class, and want high dex no strength, that's a no go.

[Gruns]

Have you considered the new Ranger build from Martial Power 2? There are a lot of DEX based melee attacks in there, including an At-Will. (Fading Strike)
Later!
Gruns

[sev]

I second the suggestion of the Tempest Fighter, from the First Martial Power book. The to-hit is still strength, but the build makes good use of high dexterity. Pick up a Parrying blade for off-hand, maybe.

I'm playing beside a Tempest Fighter in one of my games. I think her dex and strength are within two points of each other. She rolls a lot of critical hits because she gets to roll a lot of attack rolls, which is fun. Flavor-wise, her higher HP models damage-mitigation through being quick enough to turn what would be a heavy blow into a lighter blow (because it's a smaller percentage of her HP than of other members in the party).

All that said, the actual fighter class in 4e doesn't support fighter-as-skirmisher so well. The fighter's mark is often an attack-magnet. Dodging and parrying are best modelled with the rogue and ranger powers (with all the attack powers with moves & shifts as part of them, and dodge-flavored interrupts). A fighter can do striker-class damage (with the right build and the right opponents and so on) but they don't do it with striker-type tactics.

How much of your problem is about requiring Strength for attack rolls, and how much of it is about the role that the fighter is designed to fill?

[mneme]

All good questions -- but its worth noting the distinction between Str & Con.

A 4e "dex fighter" (as opposed to a "brawny fighter") is a fighter who uses strength and dex -- all wiry force and evasion. A "brawny fighter" is a Str + Con fighter -- it's the combination that brings to mind a sense of power and bulk. Additionally, there's a "wily fighter" -- Str and Wisdom -- a fighter who combines know-how and toned senses with power. (and, of course, some fighters combine two of these archetypes, like your typical dwarven fighter).

What there isn't are fighters who disdain Strength entirely.

[Dice4Hire]

I would second the ranger option. They have some good dex melee powers in MPII. _Plus iwth quarry, they can do good damage. It owuld be easy to reskin him as mroe of a fighter than a ranger, especially with a couole multiclass feats (like Battle Awareness from MPI) and whatever fighter utilities make you more fighter-like.