Replacing the Fighter

[Dandu]

I have seen it asserted many times that Fighters are absolutely necessary at lower levels, with some even stating that no one would make it past level one if not for the fighter. I have always doubted this and have designed this character to take the place of the warrior role in the standard mage/thief/priest/warrior party.

Bonnie Charlie

Cleric 1, Domains: War and Law

STR: 14 DEX: 10 CON: 14 INT: 12 WIS: 16 CHA: 12

HP: 10

Saves: FORT: +4, REF: +0, WILL: +5

Feats:
1. Protection Devotion
1. Extra Turning
1. Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Longsword
1. Weapon Focus: Longsword
1. Law Devotion (Traded out the domain for it)

Equipment:
Longsword
Heavy Steel Shield
Scale Mail

Using shield
Attack: +3, 1d8+2 damage
AC: 16

Without shield
Attack: +3, 1d8+3 damage
AC 14

Notes: The weapon used to be a bastard sword, until I found out that while Helm's favored weapon is a bastard sword, he offers the Strength domain instead of the War domain.

Suggestions for fine tuning are welcome.

Shadyizok's dwarf fighter, for comparison.

[sblock]Barnir the Strong and Fair (dwarf)

Fighter 1

STR: 18 DEX: 10 CON: 16 INT: 13 WIS: 10 CHA: 6 (32pt buy, same as your cleric)

HP: 15 (racial substitution)

Saves: FORT: +5, REF: +0, WILL: +0 (+2 vs spells, spell like and poison)

Feats:
1. Power Attack (could use it at first lvl since fighter has a Bab of 1)
1. Weapon Focus: all axes (racial substitution)


Equipment:
Dwarven Waraxe (30 gp)
Heavy Wooden Shield (7 gp)
Scale Mail (50 gp)
63 gp left for secondary weapon and gear

Using shield
Attack: +6, 1d10+4 damage (or +5, 1d10+5 damage with power attack)
AC: 16

Without shield
Attack: +6, 1d10+6 damage (or +5, 1d10+8 damage with power attack)
AC 14[/sblock]

 

[Jon_Dahl]

I'm sorry that I can't give you anything for fine tuning, but in my eyes you have not replaced fighter.

Fighter is about relaxing hack 'n slash. You can add more elements to that, but it's optional. Basically you don't have to worry about healing, complex spells, various skills or other stuff that takes too long to calculate.

As long as the fighter is the best class for this sort of gaming, it's not replaced in my eyes. Plus it's the most iconic class IMO

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Your cleric started out with a nice inheritance...

 

[Dandu]

Presumably the church tithes went towards something other than blinging out cathedrals.

Also, I think it's within the 900 gp wbl for levle 1 characters.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

This is an NPC? Cause PC wealth is not nearly that, and I thought this was a PC.

 

[Dandu]

It is a PC...

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

It is a PC...

Nah, I think it's a Mac, it's grossly overpriced.


Starting wealth isn't part of the 3.5 SRD, so check your PHB. But the PF values are similar, to get an idea of how far off 900 gp is: Equipment - Pathfinder_OGC

 

[kitcik]

Mac is worth every penny.

Equipment really has nothing to do with whether this PC is a viable replacement for fighter at L1, unless you are saying you will move Wis to Dex for the AC (which seems unlikely - it would be in Str).

 

[Jackinthegreen]

Random starting gold for a Cleric is 5d4 x 10, averaging 125 GP.

That being said, a Barbarian works just fine as the main warrior role, as does a Cleric, Paladin, or even Druid if built right. I assume no splatbooks on this because it's obvious a Crusader or Warblade would stomp all over that.

 

[Dandu]

Hm. I did not think to use starting gold, which might be a flaw in my plan. It'd lower AC by a few points as I would be forced to use cheaper armor.

Still, 900 gp or 125, the fighter will have the same WBL for this comparison so they'd be on equal ground in that department.