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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6267337" data-attributes="member: 2067">I totally agree. I think it's beneficial that D&D has had some tension with this over the various editions, because it has a few "traditional" models we can follow.Like, a 1e/2e fighter had some assumptions about the kind of "fighter" they would be. Specialized in various weapons. Able to use almost any kind of gear. And becoming a baron at a higher levels, building a castle and attracting guards.3e sort of had that kind of fighter within it (weapon focus feats + exotic weapon feats + leadership), but left it much more a la carte, so it became pretty general. And that "support" wasn't always a smart player move when the system rewarded narrow specialties more than general skills. 4e's fighter had some similarities (broad equipment selection), but ditched the loyal followers in favor of Defendery stuff and some more elaborate moves. So I'm imagining a good place to start for a D&D-esque fighter might be some sort of organization of weapon and armor experts, who learn the arts of war in a semi-military educational environment, a "boot camp" for martial arts, where they drill with different weapons and armor each day, and eventually get their focus (specialization) in one. This organization slays monsters and civilizes territories, building keeps and castles on monster-infested lands, expanding in a series of small baronies. So giving it a proper noun, we have a class that is, say, "Keeper of the Border Baronies," that gets skills related to history, tactics, weapons, armor, shields, etc. They learn monster lore and basic construction and engineering, smithing, and other crafts. They also learn things like administration and leadership. We're looking at something like a Roy: STR/INT/CHA (probably closer to a 4e Warlord in flavor than a 4e Fighter), with a robust CON likely as well. Their mechanic may revolve around the Specialization bonus (just a raw big bonus onto attack and damage), and their particular abilities might involve special attacks using their assorted weapons (I'm thinking something like the BEMCI weapon tables, and 4e's martial stances, or at-will-ified powers). That's a specific kind of fairly archetypal D&D fighter. It embraces its specificity, and it doesn't represent istself as THE TRUE FIGHTER, though, which is key. Because then a fan of 4e's martial dalies can come in and maybe swap out the simple/striaghtforward/boring Specialization bonus for unique daily powers. Or someone who wanted to be a courtly knight might replace some of those crafting skills with more CHA skills. Or someone who just wants to hit things with a big axe and call it good might trade off some of those broad weapon/armor/shield proficiencies for some survival skills</blockquote>

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