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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6886688" data-attributes="member: 42582">My point is that neither is actually a trap for anyone who reviews the rules and class description in even the most cursory way.Read the class abilities for a 4e fighter (combat challenge; combat superiority; any of the powers - you don't have to read them all to notice the trend, 1st level will do the job) and you will see that they all trigger on melee. You will see that there is no support for archery at all, so all your bow will be doing is plinking away while not deploying any of your class abilities.Who looks at the rules for a 4e fighter and doesn't work out that the class is not a good chassis for an effective archer?Similarly, I think it is pretty hard to "accidentally" build a light-armour STR fighter in 5e and not notice that your AC will be lower than it would be if you chose other options (eg medium armour, or even heavy armour and not relying on stealth strategies), for no mechanical benefit.Yes it does.The very first line of the class entry (PHB p 75) says "Role: Defender. You are very tough and have the exceptional ability to contain enemies in melee."On the same page, once you get out of the "class traits" box and into the more narrative text, the second sentence is "Fighters define the front line by bashing and slicing foes into submission while reflecting enemy attacks through the use of heavy armor."On the nexgt page, under the heading "Creating a Fighter", the second sentence is "All fighters rely on Strength."And then you get on to class features which are all usable only in melee circumstances. Combat challenge grants bonus attacks only when you are adjacent. Combat superiority triggers only on OAs, which require being adjacent. These are melee features.Then you get to the powers. All the class powers are melee or close burst powers, or various buffs that enhance close combat. These are melee features. And they are all STR-based. Bow is a DEX-based weapon that can't be used to make melee or opportunity attacks, that can't be used while adjacent to enemies without drawing an OA, that doesn't do anything to contain enemies in melee, and that isn't something you would use to bash or slice foes into submission while holding the front line of a combat.I think this makes it crystal clear that building a fighter to use a bow is like building an AD&D magic-user to rely on melee dagger attacks: nothing in the rules forbids it, but even the most cursory reading of the rules will reveal that it was not what the designers had in mind, and fails to play to the strengths of the character.This isn't true either. A 4e fighter at low levels who has reasonable DEX (eg a sword or spear build) who picks up a bow will be fine, being able to mark enemies and attack at range. The only archer build that will be wildly superior will be a ranger one, but in 5e the analogous character would also be superior (having a better DEX and the Archery fighting style, and perhaps the Sharpshooter feat also).Once you get into higher levels (upper heroic and beyond) the fighter's bow option starts to drop away because DEX may not have kept up and there are no powers that enhance bow attacks, but it's not as if this won't be transparently obvious to the player!(That's why the fighter in my game, at mid-heroic, took the Mighty Sprint skill power, because it was obvious that the character was far more effective trying to close and melee rather than make ranged attacks.)</blockquote>

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