D&D General I'm a Fighter, not a Lover: Why the 1e Fighter was so Awesome

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah, no magic rings in sight on fantasy Errol Flynn, Falstaff and Charles Bronson.

View attachment 417736

I love the Warriors Three! Although I suspect their weapons would be considered magical by our standards, not to mention they themselves are aliens with superhuman capabilities.

 

[Mannahnin]

Yeah, no magic rings in sight on fantasy Errol Flynn, Falstaff and Charles Bronson.

And while you would probably have to wait until high level to get epic stuff like a Hammer of Thunderbolts to approach Mjolnir, even Thor's only got a few items, and at that level AD&D characters are bedecked with magic like a particularly gaudy Christmas tree.

 

[kermit4karate]

And while you would probably have to wait until high level to get epic stuff like a Hammer of Thunderbolts to approach Mjolnir, even Thor's only got a few items, and at that level AD&D characters are bedecked with magic like a particularly gaudy Christmas tree.

I know this is just a fun tangent, but the MCU's comic book Thor's entire body is a legendary magic item. At what level can a D&D Fighter without any magic items lift 100 tons?

 

[Mannahnin]

I know this is just a fun tangent, but the MCU's comic book Thor's entire body is a legendary magic item. At what level can a D&D Fighter without any magic items lift 100 tons?

At what level can an AD&D fighter without any magic items detect secret doors just by walking past them, see in the dark, and live for a thousand years? 1st, if he's an elf. The idea of different species having superhuman powers as a baseline before we even touch character levels isn't exactly a new one for D&D.

And at what level can an AD&D human fighter start to detect invisible foes, without any magic items? 8th, if his Intelligence is high enough. 13th for even the dumbest.

I'm not comparing mid or high-level AD&D characters to Thor on power level; just pointing out that the vibe of AD&D characters who survived for a few levels could rapidly start to get more Asgardian than Dragonslayer.

 

[Voadam]

And while you would probably have to wait until high level to get epic stuff like a Hammer of Thunderbolts to approach Mjolnir, even Thor's only got a few items, and at that level AD&D characters are bedecked with magic like a particularly gaudy Christmas tree.

Comics Thor has the hammer Mjollnr but it also lets him fly and zap things and turn into a mortal human. Whether his armor counts as magic would be an open question too.

Mythic Thor has the hammer Mjollnr, a belt and gauntlets that enhance his super strength even more, he uses a backup magic weapon staff when Mjollnr is stolen, and has his tasty magic regenerating chariot goats. The closest to a potion would be Apples of Idunn that all Asgardians get.

 

[kermit4karate]

At what level can an AD&D fighter without any magic items detect secret doors just by walking past them, see in the dark, and live for a thousand years? 1st, if he's an elf. The idea of different species having superhuman powers as a baseline before we even touch character levels isn't exactly a new one for D&D.

And at what level can an AD&D human fighter start to detect invisible foes, without any magic items? 8th, if his Intelligence is high enough. 13th for even the dumbest.

I'm not comparing mid or high-level AD&D characters to Thor on power level; just pointing out that the vibe of AD&D characters who survived for a few levels could rapidly start to get more Asgardian than Dragonslayer.

It's a question of scale. At 1st level an MCU Asgardian plumber could survive in the vacuum of space indefinitely, lift dozens of tons, is immune to poison and disease, immune to most forms of damage, and has superhuman senses....

Asgardians have pets more powerful than a high-level AD&D Fighter.

 

[James Gasik]

Asgardians have pets more powerful than a high-level AD&D Fighter.

So they're on par with 3.x Druids?

 

[kermit4karate]

So they're on par with 3.x Druids?

Exactly!

 

[Mannahnin]

Comics Thor has the hammer Mjollnr but it also lets him fly and zap things and turn into a mortal human. Whether his armor counts as magic would be an open question too.
...
Mythic Thor has the hammer Mjollnr, a belt and gauntlets that enhance his super strength even more, he uses a backup magic weapon staff when Mjollnr is stolen, and has his tasty magic regenerating chariot goats. The closest to a potion would be Apples of Idunn that all Asgardians get.

Hence my writing "only a few", in comparison to characters who have so many that a Paladin's class limit of 10 was considered a substantial handicap.

It's a question of scale. At 1st level an MCU Asgardian plumber could survive in the vacuum of space indefinitely, lift dozens of tons, is immune to poison and disease, immune to most forms of damage, and has superhuman senses....

Asgardians have pets more powerful than a high-level AD&D Fighter.

...and if you give class levels to a Frost Giant they're a lot more powerful than a human of equivalent level too.

Still rather irrelevant to the question of whether a character who can take on multiple giants and is bedizened with a dozen or more magic items has more of an Asgardian or Dragonslayer vibe.

 

[Voadam]

It's a question of scale. At 1st level an MCU Asgardian plumber could survive in the vacuum of space indefinitely, lift dozens of tons, is immune to poison and disease, immune to most forms of damage, and has superhuman senses....

It doesn't hurt. Ask the Asgardian mason background 1st level fighter.