D&D (2024) High tier Fighter − the mythic warrior

[James Gasik]

Fighter narratives!

"The fighter is a champion, swordsman, soldier, and brawler. He lives or dies by his knowledge of weapons and tactics. Fighters can be found at the front of any battle, contesting toe-to-toe with monsters and villains. A good fighter needs to be strong and healthy if he hopes to survive."

"The fighter is a warrior, an expert in weapons, and, if he is clever, tactics and strategy. There are many famous fighters from legend- Hercules, Perseus, Hiawatha, Beowulf, Siegfried, Cuchulain, Little John, Tristan, and Sinbad. History is crowded with great generals and warriors: El Cid, Hannibal, Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Spartacus, Richard the Lionheart, and Belisarius. Your fighter could be modeled after any of these, or he could be unique. A visit to your local library can uncover many heroic fighters."

 

[Micah Sweet]

Fighter narratives!

"The fighter is a champion, swordsman, soldier, and brawler. He lives or dies by his knowledge of weapons and tactics. Fighters can be found at the front of any battle, contesting toe-to-toe with monsters and villains. A good fighter needs to be strong and healthy if he hopes to survive."

"The fighter is a warrior, an expert in weapons, and, if he is clever, tactics and strategy. There are many famous fighters from legend- Hercules, Perseus, Hiawatha, Beowulf, Siegfried, Cuchulain, Little John, Tristan, and Sinbad. History is crowded with great generals and warriors: El Cid, Hannibal, Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Spartacus, Richard the Lionheart, and Belisarius. Your fighter could be modeled after any of these, or he could be unique. A visit to your local library can uncover many heroic fighters."

This is a great narrative, but it says nothing about a fighter possessing more-than-mundane abilities.

 

[Emberashh]

This is a great narrative, but it says nothing about a fighter possessing more-than-mundane abilities.

And I as I pointed out before, its also a bit...dumb, given they conflate Hiawatha, a real person, with a bunch of what are basically ancient supers.

 

[Hussar]

This is a great narrative, but it says nothing about a fighter possessing more-than-mundane abilities.

Umm, Beowulf? Cuculain(sp)? Hercules?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Umm, Beowulf? Cuculain(sp)? Hercules?

Implied. Not stated anywhere in this description or in general descriptions of D&D worlds in the book. Half the examples are straight from history.

 

[Tonguez]

And I as I pointed out before, its also a bit...dumb, given they conflate Hiawatha, a real person, with a bunch of what are basically ancient supers.

Hiawatha wasnt a real person, he was a legend based on a real person in exactly the same way that Cuculain and Herakles were

 

[Emberashh]

Hiawatha wasnt a real person, he was a legend based on a real person in exactly the same way that Cuculain and Herakles were

Thats like saying George W. Bush wasn't a real person because Josh Brolin played him in a movie.

 

[Tonguez]

This is a great narrative, but it says nothing about a fighter possessing more-than-mundane abilities.

Fighters share

• an unparalleled mastery with weapons and armor

unparalleled means unequalled, so there should be no spell or other effect that can be better than a fighter using their weapons and armour.
so first Fighters get every weapon and armour and should be able to apply any ‘mastery‘ to them and also apply mastery to improvised weapons too. Making weapons do incredible things like throwing axes that boomerang back, firing a barrage of 10+ arrows in a single round (bonus action + action) or doing a Zephyr strike

Spoiler: Zephyr Strike

You move like the wind, so quickly you dont provoke opportunity attacks. You have advantage on one weapon attack and deal an extra 1d8 kinetic damage from the speed of your strike

is all on.
Now in my mind Force damage = Kinetic Energy damage and a mythic Fighter is one who by their incredible skill or strength or mastery of weapons has learnt to harness and direct kinetic energy of their strikes and parries. Which works perfectly for things like Zephyr strike Or

Spoiler: Blade of Disaster

you can make up to two melee attacks against a creature, loose object, or structure, on a hit, the target takes 4d12 forcea damage. On a critical hit 18-20 the blade deals an extra 8d12 damage (for a total of 12d12 force damage. As a bonus action on your turn, you can move up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see and then make up to two melee attacks with it again.

• a thorough knowledge of the skills of combat

This is where there is lots of room to give bonus Str, Wis and Cha based skills and enhancements identifying exactly what Skills of Combat look like. Tactical command, dynamic intiative, using terrain for battlefield control, enhanced athletics, intimidation and persuadion, distraction and forcing enemy movement, Rallying the troops, inspiring others, analysing enemies, taunting, even things like logistics all fit

• well acquainted with death, meting it out and staring it defiantly in the face

In DnD Death is a real force with its own Domain concerned with the forces that cause death, undead, murder, pain, sickness, enfeeblement and the underworld.
A Fighter is well aquainted with these things and at mythic levels should be able to mete out death (massive damage?), pain and enfeeblement (imposing conditions) and also stare at Death defiantly (= Legendary Resistances to Death, Pain, Disease and Undead?)

The point that is the current Narrative is fine and in DnD even fairly mundane narrative can be used to build a mythic story, the Fantasy of the genre defines the narrative intent.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Fighters share

• an unparalleled mastery with weapons and armor

unparalleled means unequalled, so there should be no spell or other effect that can be better than a fighter using their weapons and armour.
so first Fighters get every weapon and armour and should be able to apply any ‘mastery‘ to them and also apply mastery to improvised weapons too. Making weapons do incredible things like throwing axes that boomerang back, firing a barrage of 10+ arrows in a single round (bonus action + action) or doing a Zephyr strike (You move like the wind, so quickly you dont provoke opportunity attacks. You have advantage on one weapon attack and deal an extra 1d8 kinetic damage from the speed of your strike) is all on.
Now in my mind Force damage = Kinetic Energy damage and a mythic Fighter is one who by their incredible skill or strength or mastery of weapons has learnt to harness and direct kinetic energy of their strikes and parries. Which works perfectly for things like Zephyr strike Or Blade of Disaster (you can make up to two melee attacks against a creature, loose object, or structure, on a hit, the target takes 4d12 forcea damage. On a critical hit 18-20 the blade deals an extra 8d12 damage (for a total of 12d12 force damage. As a bonus action on your turn, you can move up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see and then make up to two melee attacks with it again.)

• a thorough knowledge of the skills of combat

This is where there is lots of room to give bonus Str, Wis and Cha based skills and enhancements identifying exactly what Skills of Combat look like. Tactical command, dynamic intiative, using terrain for battlefield control, enhanced athletics, intimidation and persuadion, distraction and forcing enemy movement, Rallying the troops, inspiring others, analysing enemies, taunting, even things like logistics all fit

• well acquainted with death, meting it out and staring it defiantly in the face

In DnD Death is a real force with its own Domain concerned with the forces that cause death, undead, murder, pain, sickness, enfeeblement and the underworld.
A Fighter is well aquainted with these things and at mythic levels should be able to mete out death (massive damage?), pain and enfeeblement (imposing conditions) and also stare at Death defiantly (= Legendary Resistances to Death, Pain, Disease and Undead?)

The point that is the current Narrative is fine and in DnD even fairly mundane narrative can be used to build a mythic story, the Fantasy of the genre defines the narrative intent.

Nothing in that description says mythic unless you really, really want it to. If they wanted you to equate "fighter" with superhuman ability, they would have said so, like they did with all the  actual magical classes. This is wishful thinking to no purpose. Change the narrative to something that actually describes what you want, and we can go somewhere.

 

[Tonguez]

Thats like saying George W. Bush wasn't a real person because Josh Brolin played him in a movie.

exactly - Cucalain was based on the nephew of the King of Ulster who was known for his skill in sports and who trained as a warrior from a young age. After his death he became Legendary and was said to be a son of Lugh.

if anything the legendary the Song of Hiawatha was a retelling of the legend of Nanabozho rather than the real mohawk chief Ayenwatha