D&D 5E (2024) Fighter brainstorm

[Azzy]

Make the fighter more like its 4e incarnation.

 

[Horwath]

remove Action surge, it's just too much hassle with multiclassing. Add extra Feat at 2nd level.

Remove Champion and add crit range increase to base fighter class.

Remove EK, make dedicated half-caster "sword mage" like class.

add extra attacks at levels 5,9,13 and 17.

Have second wind usable prof bonus per long rest.

increase HD to d12.

add option to take any one skill proficiency at 1st level instead of Heavy armor proficiency.

 

[Corinnguard]

1. Fighter archetypes that expand upon whatever Fighting Style you choose at 1st level. These can be maneuvers that are unique to that Fighting Style and/or benefits that grow as you level up.
2. Remove Second Wind and Action Surge.
3. Make them more socially interactive and more of a explorer. Currently the 5e Fighter's class traits are geared toward Combat, thus making it a one-legged stool. It needs to have features a player can use when they aren't fighting.

All martials (including fighter) having a pool of 'stamina points' which can be used to fuel abilities and class features.

Martials in Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition receive an Exertion Pool to fuel some of their abilities and class features. The number of exertion points you can receive is twice your proficiency bonus. The A5e Fighter at key levels can increase the size of the Exertion pool by an extra point. They also can reduce the Exertion point cost of a single maneuver at key levels (all maneuvers in A5e come with an Exertion point cost).

 

[Vaalingrade]

Battlemaster as the base.

Weapon Choice matters. Weapons get their stats back.

Champion Michael Jordan 360 spin-dunked into the garbage.

 

[James Gasik]

Hot take: remove the Fighter class. Seriously, it's identity is "fighter" when everyone can fight pretty much equally in 5e. There's really very little distinct or flavorful about them compared to other classes; Paladins have magic and auras and lay on hands and big boom smites. Rangers have spells and hunter's mark and options the fighter can only dream of (I mean, the lowly Hunter gets Whirlwind Attack, something the Fighter can never have?). The Barbarian has savage attacking and RAGE!

All of the Fighter's flavor comes from subclasses....and some of them even fail to be all that interesting. You can't be a weapon master, because anyone with proficiency is just as good as you. There is no weapon specialization, really. Heck, with the loss of GWM, Fighter damage is going to fall into the basement.

So yeah. Replace the Fighter with flavorful classes. Give us Myrmidons, Gladiators, Swordsages, and Warlords!

 

[Corinnguard]

Hot take: remove the Fighter class. Seriously, it's identity is "fighter" when everyone can fight pretty much equally in 5e. There's really very little distinct or flavorful about them compared to other classes; Paladins have magic and auras and lay on hands and big boom smites. Rangers have spells and hunter's mark and options the fighter can only dream of (I mean, the lowly Hunter gets Whirlwind Attack, something the Fighter can never have?). The Barbarian has savage attacking and RAGE!

All of the Fighter's flavor comes from subclasses....and some of them even fail to be all that interesting. You can't be a weapon master, because anyone with proficiency is just as good as you. There is no weapon specialization, really. Heck, with the loss of GWM, Fighter damage is going to fall into the basement.

So yeah. Replace the Fighter with flavorful classes. Give us Myrmidons, Gladiators, Swordsages, and Warlords!

Which is why I think the Fighter in Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition is significantly better. The A5e Fighter gains proficiency in three of the eleven Combat Traditions (and counting), and they have social interaction features that they can use outside of combat.

 

[Remathilis]

Just build superiority dice into the main fighter, allow champions to just use them as raw damage dice and battlemasters for maneuvers. Other subs could then use them to fuel other features like arcane arrows or warlord support abilities.

 

[Lord Shark]

Make the fighter more like its 4e incarnation.

Besides 4E, there's Iron Heroes, Book of Nine Swords, Arcana Unearthed/Evolved, Path of War, Spheres of War, Level Up, and even BECMI's Weapon Mastery rules ... there's been a ton of work done in creating interesting, capable martial characters in the d20 chassis, and the 5E designers drew on none of it because their main design goal was "feeling like D&D" and that meant boring basic fighters.

 

[Corinnguard]

There was also Everyman Games' Unchained Fighter for Pathfinder 1st edition.

 

[Clint_L]

IMO fighters are another class that, like paladin, need tinkering rather than significant changes. There is a nice balance of simple options and more complicated ones, with sub-classes like Battlemaster widely considered top tier choices.

I think most of the work in fighters should happen at the sub-class level. Weapon specialization is an old school skill that I think could be brought back as a class feature, though with something more imaginative than a simple hit/damage bonus.