A critique and review of the Fighter class

[James Gasik]

this is a big pet peeve of how 5e turned out... 4e needed work, and that work was scrapped to go backwards.

Yeah, now every casting class has damage spells, control spells, buffs, almost everyone but the Wizard has an option to throw out healing- casters are Striker/Controller/Leaders, and non-magic Fighters are Strikers, who, with a lot of work, can get a tiny bit of Controller/Defender.

 

[James Gasik]

Yeah, now every casting class has damage spells, control spells, buffs, almost everyone but the Wizard has an option to throw out healing- casters are Striker/Controller/Leaders, and non-magic Fighters are Strikers, who, with a lot of work, can get a tiny bit of Controller/Defender.

Maybe a topic for another thread, but now that I think about it, why can Bards, Warlocks, and Sorcerers find ways to heal now, but Wizards can't?

Maybe in some future 6e, the developers should give up and make Wizards and Clerics the same class, lol.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Maybe in some future 6e, the developers should give up and make Wizards and Clerics the same class, lol.

we could call it magic user

 

[James Gasik]

I'm more partial to Invoker, myself. Really, we don't lose much for having one casting class, save for the Druid's Wild Shape.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I might have to eat some crow on my defense of the fighter. Not that this is scientific or anything, but lately I've been playing a lot of Solasta, and when I have a fighter as my primary melee the game is noticeably harder than when I have a barbarian or paladin in that slot.

Sure, it's a video game not a real game, but every hour I play is like 8 sessions worth of combat. So huge sample sizes.

 

[James Gasik]

I might have to eat some crow on my defense of the fighter. Not that this is scientific or anything, but lately I've been playing a lot of Solasta, and when I have a fighter as my primary melee the game is noticeably harder than when I have a barbarian or paladin in that slot.

Sure, it's a video game not a real game, but every hour I play is like 8 sessions worth of combat. So huge sample sizes.

I haven't played it, but some of my players do. While it's a very house ruled 5e, they've started to notice things I've been saying for awhile, which is funny when they mention it. For example, I had a player who felt the Protection Fighting Style made him an excellent tank.

I pointed out "you only have one reaction though", and he scoffed.

I think it was a couple weeks back he was like "ok, so, I made a Fighter with Protection on Solasta, and we got mobbed by (I think it was kobolds or goblins?) and I was basically useless."

People make a lot of being able to control the battlefield with opportunity attacks and reactions, but when you only have one of those to use each turn, you can easily be overrun.

Of course, from the descriptions I've had of the game, Solasta doesn't seem to use CR or really anything in it's encounter design, so I'm sure more than a few of these combats are unfair to the poor Fighter.

 

[Bill Zebub]

While it's a very house ruled 5e,

Not really. In the subclass design, and in many non-combat ways, yes, but combat is fairly by-the-book. The exceptions don't really factor into a comparison of fighter/barbarian/paladin. The one exception I can think of is that the Berserker barbarian gets a saving throw vs. Exhaustion after Frenzy. But even when I fail that saving throw I don't really notice the difference because I don't let myself get more than one level. (Still, the little icon telling me I'm 'exhausted' bugs me.)

Of course, from the descriptions I've had of the game, Solasta doesn't seem to use CR or really anything in it's encounter design, so I'm sure more than a few of these combats are unfair to the poor Fighter.

The overall fights vary in difficulty, but I don't think in any way that's unfair to the Fighter relative to Paladin and Barbarian. In fact, being able to short rest as frequently as you like means that you can use Action Surge and Second Wind in every combat. But even when I do that, life is easier with a Paladin or Barbarian.

Where Solasta may differ from the way many people play is that you almost never face a single boss. It's always boss + minions, and the fights can easily go on for 5+ rounds. Which devalues Action Surge relative to Divine Smite and Frenzy.