"The Fighter is now the weapon master equivalent of the Wizard" (with respect to versatility).
OVERVIEW
The Fighter seems to have been mostly set in Playtest 7. Most of the features described carry over from there, though Brawler has gone and is replaced by Psi Warrior form Tasha's.
- Ranger and Fighter have the most new features.
- Subclasses provide "different levels of mechanical idiosyncracy".
- Weapon mastery (level1), tactical mind (2), tactical shift (5), studied attacks (13) -- all of these are as in PT7.
- second wind -- increased number of uses (as PT7)
- NEW: Level 9: Tactical master is like mastery of Armaments, but limited to push. sap, and slow. These properties are now always in the fighter's pocket, regardless of the weapon used. These properties add to Battle Master abilities.
- Fighting Styles: new options available: Blindfighting, Interception, Thrown Weapons, and Unarmed fighting (from Tasha's). (YAY for thrown weapons and unarmed fighting!). Protection style "improved".
- NEW: You can change your fighting style when you level up.
- NEW: All classes now get an Epic Boon at level 19, replacing the ASI.
SUBCLASSES
Battle Master:
- they considered making the maneuvers the core of the fighter, but that would undermine the goal of different playstyles for each subclass.
- ambush, bait and switch, commanding presence, and tactical presence all brought over from Tasha's (as PT7)
- Student of War also gives you a skill proficiency (as PT7)
- Know your enemy has "limited number of uses per day" (PT7 had one, IIRC)
- same core identity, focusing on crits.
- Remarkable Athlete: NEW. When you score a crit, you can move without receiving opportunity attacks.
- Remarkable Athlete: advantage on initiative and athletics (as PT7). This works with the new surprise rules, which give you an edge but "defang" the one-sidedness of surprise.
- Additional fighting style at 7, Heroic Warrior at 10, Survivor at 18 (as PT7).
- for players who played OD&D when Elf was a class...
- with the Psi Warrior are for people who want Fighter and X (mixed).
- no school restrictions (also for Arcane Trickster)
- NEW: you can now use an arcane focus.
- War Magic and Improved War Magic: as in PT7, but at level 18 you can replace two attacks with spells up to level 2 (I think this is new).
- changes from Tasha: changes are primarily in rewording.
NEW RULES
Epic Boon:
- you may choose a non-epic boon feat. They include an ASI that can go past 20, and include abilities go beyond what feats normally do.
- Example: Boon of Combat Prowess. Once per TURN, you can turn a miss to a hit. Another example: You have Truesight. Another example: when you attack or take the magic action, you also teleport.
- The PHB now has rules to go beyond level 20. Every time you hit some XP threshold, you can choose another Epic Boon (which could take one of your scores to level 30).
- Heroic Inspiration which lets you re-roll any one die (may be one damage die, but not all damage dice).
- Surprise now gives you disadvantage on your initiative. (Champion, Assassin, and Barbarian are hard to surprise -- they won't have disadvantage on init).
- No school restrictions for Arcane Trickster or Eldrtich Knight.
