"Fighter" Character Concepts

The last Fighter I played was an ex-mercenary with a halberd. He fought in a very measured, methodical manner. First knock them to the ground, take their weapon away as they fall, then chop them up as they lie defenceless on the ground. I had a custom feat that allowed me to knock disarmed weapons up to 15' away.
 

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Here's one of my favorites:

The Dwarven Chainsaw (can be done with either Ranger or Fighter).

Take Amb/TWF fighting feats. Point Blank Shot is a plus, as are Quick Draw, Power attack, cleave, and the focus/specialization chain.

Dual-wield a dwarven waraxe and lots of throwing axes.

The tactics:

Prepare: Throw a throwing axe, move forward.

Close: Go two handed on the waraxe -- charge!

Slice: Two-handed Power Attack with the waraxe

Puree: Quickdraw a throwing axe, and go into dual-axe mode.

Rinse, repeat.

:)
 

Have him look up tower shield and read everything dealing with it.

Then tell him to incorporate that into his character concept. It will make for a very nice character.
 

Maybe you should convince him to play a race that is very un-fighter like. Like halfling and gnome, this will make for lot's of roleplaying fun (A small character who wants to be as good as all the biggies with their large swords) Or you could go for a small character that exploits evey bit of being small.
 

I like the Glaive Idea and have seen it used effectively but if he has done a Spiked chain guy it is not that different.

Think a generalist fighter. Has no weapon focus or any other feat that has to name a specific weapon.

Look at the first few steps of all the feat fighting feat chains.

expertise - imp trip- imp disarm

power attack - cleave - sunder

PBS - Rapid shot - precise shot

Quick draw is a must as well.

Think of a fighter packing 3-4 weapons and using them all in one combat.

Have magic items that are in general useful stat boost etc.

Take knowledge (tactics). (A fighter skill in my games)

He needs to have some idea of tactics and such so that switching weapons will be a tactical decision on what is best when. I had a character like this from 1-4 level. Campaign ended but I dearly wanted to play him uo through the levels. He was highly mobile taking tumbling as a class skill (Via cosmopolitian feat in FR)

Wa a blast.

later
 

I think the best place to start is a roleplaying hook. Even if he winds up with a character with the same or similar feats, if he roleplays them differently then they'll be a completely different experience.

Some ideas:
* The war-weary soldier/mercenary. He's tired of fighting, but it's the only thing he knows. Probably has a very efficient fighting style, knows how to work with others, knows how to keep himself alive.
* The pacifist master. He views his mastery of the art of combat as a purely philosophical thing, and hates to actually get involved in the real thing.
* The challenger. He is constantly testing himself against his opponents. He'll be cocky, have flashy moves and weapons, and insist on taking on tough-looking enemies alone. He'll probably hunt up other fighters based on their reputation so he can test himself.

J
 


Master of Horse. There are a lot of neat riding feats for that. Fights from horseback, was perhaps in calvary or heavy calvary.

Military Scout. MC with Rogue for a couple of levels, concentrating on Hide and Move Silent, with a little Innuendo and Intimidate on the side.

Mage-Killer. Up your Wisdom, buy Iron Will, seek out any items that up your saves or resistance to magic. A little Knowledge: Arcane.
 

The Dragon with the Campaign Components: Swashbucklers gave an interesting suggestion: Barbarian swashbuckler.

As someone else pointed out, the barbarian class is really more of a berserker than low-tech fighter. Just say the character grew up in the city or as the son of a country noble (excuse for animal skills). He tries to be normal and civilized, he really does.

Sometimes, though, he witnesses things that just enrage him to no end. In these situations, his natural response is to kick the holy living snot out of whatever irritates him. He just gets so irrationally passionate about it.

Of course, that inflamed passion is likely to carry over to other areas of his life. No doubt he carrouses with the best of them but no matter how popular he is with the ladies, he's gotten himself in deep doo with authorities because he isn't likely to keep quiet when he disagrees with their ideas.

I believe the article used Porthos (of the Three Musketeers) as an example of this kind of character.
 

Go for a role-playing hook. You will get bored of combinations of feats, but not of an actual character. Let the stats derive from that.

-- Peasant boy done good. Make him a farmhand. Maybe he became an adventurer when his family was killed by [insert campagin bad guys] and he went for revenge. Use a scythe - different, and a HUGE crit range. I'd even be tempted to go WWA again here though, just for the visual of 'threshing' all your enemies in a single swipe :)

-- Noble savage. Could be a barbarian, or just a fighter from a primitive background. Uses spears and clubs, doesn't really value money. Looks down his nose at these so called 'civilized' people

-- Errant Knight. Fighter from a rich family, cast out on his own. Maybe he was accused of a crime and must clear his good name, or his family was dishonored and he hides his true name in shame. Mounted feat chain.

Its much easier to come up with the flavor text first, rather than work backwards. And I think I want to play a scythe-weilding farmboy now :).
 

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