Over on the Warlord thread, the subject of the viability of the Fighter class in 5E came up. I feel this deserves a thread all to its own, so I'll say it here, loud and clear:
Fifth Edition Fighters are amazing!
Sometimes I feel that they are really underrated. Let's break down some key points of the class:
Aside from their great features and subclasses, the Fighter also has tons and tons of possible interesting, viable builds. A 4E-style Defender is totally doable, as is a powerful Great Weapon Master that deals bucketloads of damage whenever they hit or a gladiator with plenty of dirty tricks up their sleeve. A "trick shot" sniper that trips up, pushes around, and disarms foes at range? Why not? A bare-fisted Grappler that wrestles ogres and young dragons to the ground? Totally doable. A dagger master that destroys their foes with a barrage of kitchen knives? Surprisingly quite decent, as long as your DM will rule that drawing a thrown weapon counts as drawing ammo (and not as interacting with an object). A stalwart knight that never goes down in battle, no matter what you throw at them? There's a build for that. A magical warrior that takes to the air under their own power to duel dragons? Why not? A 4E-style Warlord that inspires their allies, granting them extra resilience and attacks? Possible with the right Maneuvers and feats. The first edition Elf, alternating between sword and spell? Just pick up Eldritch Knight and you're good to go. The options only get better when you consider multiclassing.
... I'm pretty sure I could play a Fighter for the rest of my D&D career and never get tired.
Now, some naysayers will have you believe that the Fighter has some crucial weaknesses. Nay, I say to them!
In conclusion, Fighters are awesome in 5E. They're my favorite class for lots of reasons - they have tons of power, loads of options, and are super iconic. Legolas and Gimli were Fighters. So is Captain America.
I hope reading this wall of text has inspired you, too to explore the possibilities available in D&D 5E's coolest class. Here I'll add a shameless plug for my own Fighter Guide which I'd like to eventually transplant to ENWorld. Consider making your next character a Fighter!
Agree with me? Got a Fighter story you'd love to share? Want to take an attack roll at the Fighter's awesome armor class of amazingness? (I think you'll miss, but I'm always interested to hear a dissenting opinion.) Have at it!
Fifth Edition Fighters are amazing!
Sometimes I feel that they are really underrated. Let's break down some key points of the class:
- You have great baseline features. Proficiency in all armor and shields means you'll never have a bad AC, all martial weapons means top-tier damage dealing, Constitution saves . You have access to as many skills as most classes do, and your options include the stellar Athletics (one of the all-time best exploration skills and great for grappling) and the all-star Perception. Constitution is also probably the best "common" save proficiency, and all the casters in the group will be very jealous.
- Unlike Rangers and Paladins (never mind the poor Barbarian who doesn't get them at all), you have access to every Fighting Style, and you have it at first level. Can Rangers go GWF, or Paladins be archers? Nope. Those small bonuses to accuracy, damage or defense can really add up as they apply just about every turn.
- Second Wind doesn't look like much, but it recharges on a Short Rest, of which you can expect 2 per day plus a long rest. Combined with your likely better AC, you can compete with the Barbarian for durability. Rangers and Paladins may have self-healing as well, but when taken over the course of a day, 3d10+3 looks a lot better than a Paladin's paltry 5 HP from Lay on Hands, and even at higher levels 3d10+30 is competitive with 50 HP when you consider that it can be done as a bonus action.
- Action Surge is just insane, and every other class is jealous (and often they'll dip into Fighter just to get this). You can totally break the action economy approximately three times a day. This gets even crazier with multiple Extra Attacks at higher levels, but also comboes well with abilities like grappling or spellcasting.
- You get more Ability Score Increases than any other class. What does that mean? If you start with a 16 in your key stat, you can bring that to 20 and pick up one of those fancy-schmancy combat feats (it's not like anyone's ever heard of Great Weapon Master, right?), all by eighth level. Or you can go for a totally devastating build like Polearm Master + Sentinel early on and still buff your stats up really easily. No other class can do that, and they'll have a much harder time maxing out their three or so key stats while rounding out their build. You only really need your attack stat and Constitution, leaving you free to pick up awesome stuff like Resilient (Wisdom) or Mage Slayer.
- Sure, every other martial class save for Rogue gets Extra Attack at level 5. What they don't get is ANOTHER Extra Attack at level 11. That's three attacks, or a ridiculous six with Action Surge. You are also free to make Shove or Grapple attempts with those attacks, and if you're Strength-based you're likely quite good at those things. Not only does Extra Attack help your damage, it also helps your versatility.
- Adding to the Fighter's general badassery is their ability to mimic the much-behated Legendary Resistance starting at level 9. Fail a save? I guess I'll give it another shot. Maybe the Paladin's immune to Charm, but Petrification? Not a chance. You are, though - or at least you've got a good crack at it when it counts.
- First there's the Champion, which takes a lot of flack for being "boring" and "underpowered." But c'mon! First of all, it is important to have something you can hand to a new player and have them understand easily, and the Fighter's as good a place for it as any. Second of all, the Champion isn't actually bad. You double your crits (particularly good with Action Surge and Extra Attack), get one of the game's few Initiative bonuses, and eventually become crazy resilient in a fight - plus you have the whole Fighter class to fall back on. The Champion might not be exciting to play, but it still has tons of staying power.
- The Battle Master is actually awesome! You can do so much. Sure, Superiority Dice aren't there all the time but you still get about 12-18 to play with per day, and pull off at least a few awesome moves each combat. And the moves are very awesome indeed! You can shove creatures around, disarm them, move your allies out of a tight spot, defend your whole team by intimidating a monster, turn a miss into a hit, knock an enemy prone (and then whale on them with your Action Surge with all attacks at advantage), rally a beleaguered ally, parry a vicious blow - whatever helps most at the time you need it. And all of this while dealing nova-y damage that rivals the Paladin (tip: Superiority Dice double on crits)! For extra points, you can annoy the DM by "sizing up" every NPC you meet, determining if the humble innkeeper could in fact destroy your whole party or not.
- The Eldritch Knight looks limited, but in fact adds a whole host of abilities onto the strong-as-is Fighter chassis. Chief among those is the ability to shield, adding 5 to your AC for a round and potentially weathering several punishing blows. You can mage armor and summon your bonded weapon to be ready for a fight instantly, or cast misty step to leap thirty feet into the air and grapple the Manticore. And let's not forget the potent self-buffs available at higher level. Your party Wizard can save his or her Concentration slot for showstoppers like hold monster or delayed blast fireball - you can haste yourself and save them the trouble. The kicker? You're likely to have excellent Constitution saves anyway, so you'll be better at holding Concentration than they are!
Aside from their great features and subclasses, the Fighter also has tons and tons of possible interesting, viable builds. A 4E-style Defender is totally doable, as is a powerful Great Weapon Master that deals bucketloads of damage whenever they hit or a gladiator with plenty of dirty tricks up their sleeve. A "trick shot" sniper that trips up, pushes around, and disarms foes at range? Why not? A bare-fisted Grappler that wrestles ogres and young dragons to the ground? Totally doable. A dagger master that destroys their foes with a barrage of kitchen knives? Surprisingly quite decent, as long as your DM will rule that drawing a thrown weapon counts as drawing ammo (and not as interacting with an object). A stalwart knight that never goes down in battle, no matter what you throw at them? There's a build for that. A magical warrior that takes to the air under their own power to duel dragons? Why not? A 4E-style Warlord that inspires their allies, granting them extra resilience and attacks? Possible with the right Maneuvers and feats. The first edition Elf, alternating between sword and spell? Just pick up Eldritch Knight and you're good to go. The options only get better when you consider multiclassing.
... I'm pretty sure I could play a Fighter for the rest of my D&D career and never get tired.
Now, some naysayers will have you believe that the Fighter has some crucial weaknesses. Nay, I say to them!
- In my opinion, the Linear Fighter/Quadratic Wizard dynamic in 5E, save for a few clearly overpowered spells like Simulacrum and Conjure Fey (seriously? eight Pixies?), is thoroughly smashed. Wizards are still great at battlefield control and AoE damage, but they generally can't match a Fighter for durability or single-target damage dealing (nova or sustained) during a fight. Similarly, Clerics are great at support, but the Concentration mechanic means they can no longer buff themselves into a combat monster, and experience has proved that even Moon Druids are unable to match a Fighter for pure damage dealing or resilience (save for perhaps level 2). While high-level casters still have access to enormously powerful spells with a wide variety of applications, those spells must be carefully rationed due to their limited use, while a Fighter can easily afford to use his or her most powerful abilities (Action Surge, Extra Attack), very often or even at-will.
- "Fighters don't have out-of-combat utility!" Not so, I assert. The baseline Fighter can contribute strong skills like Athletics and Perception all day long, and thanks to the magic of bounded accuracy and Backgrounds stands a good chance of helping out in a social encounter as well. The Battlemaster contributes the totally awesome Know Your Enemy feature, which adds needed context to tons of social interactions, and a . And a Dexterity-based Fighter with the Criminal or Urchin background? You'll be a passable Thief, with Stealth and lockpicking skills to match. Finally, the Fighter's many ASIs and fewer relevant stats adds more opportunities to add great utility feats like Ritual Caster or Skilled.
In conclusion, Fighters are awesome in 5E. They're my favorite class for lots of reasons - they have tons of power, loads of options, and are super iconic. Legolas and Gimli were Fighters. So is Captain America.
I hope reading this wall of text has inspired you, too to explore the possibilities available in D&D 5E's coolest class. Here I'll add a shameless plug for my own Fighter Guide which I'd like to eventually transplant to ENWorld. Consider making your next character a Fighter!
Agree with me? Got a Fighter story you'd love to share? Want to take an attack roll at the Fighter's awesome armor class of amazingness? (I think you'll miss, but I'm always interested to hear a dissenting opinion.) Have at it!