D&D 5E Survivor Core Classes- Fighter Wins!

[Lanefan]

I was always bored with plain old Fighters.
DM: (Sets up the adventure). What do you do?
FIGHTER: Let others talk. Wait for something to kill.

And with that the (perceived) problem lands right on the shoulders of the player. Don't just let others talk - talk anyway!

Later that day . . .
DM: There is an orc attacking you. What do you do?
FIGHTER: I swing my sword. (Rolls d20 and maybe damage)

No problem here: kill the orc, take its pie, and move on.

5 levels later . . .
DM: (Sets up adventure) What do you do?
FIGHTER: (Playing with phone until combat starts) Huh?

Player still hasn't figured it out...

Later that night . . .
DM: There is an Ogre attacking you. What do you do?
FIGHTER: Swing my sword TWICE! (Gleefully rolls 2 x d20s and damage)

I know that you can RP more, but I just don't find the lack of decision points for the typical Fighter to be interesting or compelling. I need to have something going on outside of combat, and I need to have interesting tactical decisions to make in combat.

Which you can always do. But you need to approach it from a "what would this character try now" aspect, ignoring the game mechanics, rather than just waiting for the game mechanics to give you an option.

What goes on outside of combat is completely determined by you the player.

Lan-"some of the most memorable characters I've seen have been basic Fighters"-efan

 

[Aldarc]

No, nothing like that. In 0D&D, you searched for traps by prodding the dungeon floor ahead of you with a 10' pole and the like. Then the Thief comes along and finding traps is his exclusive 'special' ability, so it would be just wrong to let you find a trap. In contrast spellcasting is supernatural, not everyone can do it. Fighting is something everyone can do, and everyone /could/ do it, 'swing weapon' did not become a 'fighter special ability.' Magic-users didn't take away the ability to cast spells, since no one has such abilities normally. Fighters didn't take away the ability to fight, because everyone could fight. Thieves stole the ability to watch out for traps, sneak around, even climb, because everyone could, then they couldn't, because of the Thieves' ill-conceived mechanics and niche protection.

The other reason the thief was such a bad idea was that it was so /bad/ at everything. It was the only one who could do a range of fairly mundane dungeon-crawling tasks, but it wasn't that good at them, and it barely fought better than the magic-user, had poor hps, etc.

So the thief took away from the other classes (but especially the fighter, because it couldn't just up and cast Knock or TK or Find the Path or whatever when something other than hitting monsters was called for) but still didn't have enough to stand on its own. Sure, early D&D needed more resolution than just hitting things and casting spells, but it should have gotten there by expanding universal options and fighter abilities, rather than by creating the Thief.

Yes, but it's not as if the concept of sneaking around disappeared for everyone else or that they took away the Magic-User or Fighting-Man's 10-foot pole.

 

[Lanefan]

Assassin 15 gp
Barbarian 5gp
Bard 22gp
Cavalier -15gp
Cleric 19gp
Druid 19gp
Fighter 4gp
Monk 19gp
Ranger 19gp
Rogue 36gp
Sorcerer 19gp
Tavernkeeper 17gp
Thief 15 gp
Warlock 17gp
Wizard 17gp

Later that night, long after closing, the Rogue returned to the tavern with a couple of her guildmates. They first found the Cavalier, late to the party as always, and - realizing he had no coinage on him at all - relieved him of some of his weaponry. Being a typical Cavalier, and thus only slightly smarter than his left boot, he'll notice the loss sometime tomorrow. If he's particularly observant.

The three sneaks then broke into the bar and found the Fighter and Barbarian passed out on the floor after what had been a legendary drinking contest. Showing some respect for the fallen each was relieved of 15 gp but left with a few in order that they could afford hangover cures the next morning; between that and the take from the Cav's weaponry the three amigos did quite well for themselves.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Yes, but it's not as if the concept of sneaking around disappeared for everyone else or that they took away the Magic-User or Fighting-Man's 10-foot pole.

It prettymuch did (not the 10' pole, but its usefulness in finding traps), a few races surprised more often if out ahead of a party, that was about it for non-Thief stealth.

Of course, by 3e most Thief abilities had become skills (way too many skills, arguably), and the Rogue had gotten better at both combat and using those skills (though it was only Tier 4), than the poor old Thief. FWLTW. Even in 4e, with the classes so robustly balanced in combat, the fighter was notably lacking outside of it. In 5e the fighter and rogue still both do sub-sets of things that archetypes from myth/legend did. Robin Hood, for instance, as cunning and sneaky as any rogue, as tough as any fighter.

 

[Erechel]

And the fighter, unsurprisingly, wins the day. Nothing beats the old ers in a long, long fight. They have the resilience to endure it, and have sufficient staying power to break everybody else's butts. I didn't vote, because I was, of course, playing a fighter and saving everyone else's asses.

Fighters! March! To victory!

 

[BoldItalic]

Sister Jericho, being a Cleric of Lefthander, was something of a connoisseuse when it came to wine. That's why, when she visited the Frolicking Frog, she drank gin. She had a calm and easy-going manner that seemed to radiate reassurance and people found themselves confiding in her, more than they perhaps intended. She chatted to the Tavernkeeper, whose name was Roland Butter, and asked him how he came to be in that occupation. Was it his family's trade, she wondered?

"No, I used to be an adventurer, like you," replied Roland, "until I took an arrow in the knee."

"How awful for you. May one ask, what class of adventurer?"

"Paladin. Oath of Hospitality. We presided at court banquets, that kind of thing. Mostly ceremonial, really. Hardly any smiting. But it's a competitive business, a lot of my friends ended up running taverns too. If you're ever in Brightport, look up my old mate Charlie at the Bucket of Prawns. Tell him I sent you and he'll see you right."

"Thank you, I will."

"But here am I chatting away and your glass is only half full. Would you care for a top-up?"

"Why, yes," replied the good Sister Jericho, passing over a couple of coins. Roland dropped one into a jar marked "For Ye Taxxes" and fed the other to his pet mimic for safe keeping.

Edgiban the Sorcerer watched with interest. He knew something about mimics but he also knew that fighters (plural) were the best way to deal with them. He cast a clone spell, because you can never have too many fighters, but Wild Magic chose that moment to happen and the result was one FFiigghhtteerr who was twice as scary because he now had twice as many arms, twice as many attacks and his AC and all his stats were doubled.

You don't want to mess with a FFiigghhtteerr.

Suddenly, the scene changed ...


Assassin 15 gp
Barbarian (Throg) 5gp
Bard (Balustrade) 22gp
Cavalier -15gp
Cleric (Sister Jericho) 17gp
Druid (Moss) 19gp
FFiigghhtteerr 44ggpp¹
Monk 19gp
Ranger 19gp
Rogue (Ronni) 36gp
Sorcerer (Edgiban) 19gp
Pala-Tavern Keeper-Din (Roland Butter) 18gp
Thief 15 gp
Warlock (Jeremy) 17gp
Wizard (Book) 17gp

¹ ggpp = Giant Glowing Platinum Pieces, coins so rare that no-one will exchange one for anything smaller than a Hotel on Park Lane and three Houses on Mayfair. The coins are so big and so heavy that you need Str 38 just to lift one. Fortunately for him, the FFiigghhtteerr has Str 40 and the Unbounded Accuracy feat.

 

[Lanefan]

[MENTION=6777052]BoldItalic[/MENTION] - unless Sister Jericho and the Pala-Tavern Keeper-Din are making a healthy donation to the Cavalier, you've unintentionally put him 30 gp to the good. The Cav is supposed to be at -15, not +15, as he's already down 15 g.p. worth of gear.

 

[BoldItalic]

[MENTION=6777052]BoldItalic[/MENTION] - unless Sister Jericho and the Pala-Tavern Keeper-Din are making a healthy donation to the Cavalier, you've unintentionally put him 30 gp to the good. The Cav is supposed to be at -15, not +15, as he's already down 15 g.p. worth of gear.

Oops, I mistook the minus sign for a hyphen. Corrected, thank you

 

[rgoodbb]

suddenly the scene changed........

Everyone performed an 8 out of 10 Kirk slide to port as the mobile and environmentally friendly watering hole jumped upwards in a spring of gigantic proportions. People got scared, took one look at the FFiigghhtteerr and for no other good reason, started a bar fight.

Granger, the Stranger Danger Ranger born in a Manger was knocked to the floor by Sister Jericho. The bar-room floor was his favourite terrain though and he began to work out how he would get his own back. He would exchange-her no rearrange-her or just change-her thought Granger the Stranger Danger Ranger born in a Manger. At that point Balustrade, or Ballsy the Bard as he was know in minstrel circles, knocked him out with Sleep. Rhyming was his shtick!

As impressive as he looked, Foghorn the FFiigghhtteerr's four arms each had four forearms. He looked like a cactus -monster Thri-kreen monstrosity. His new arms were useless and he dropped most of his GGPP across the floor. It was at this time when a mischievous Moss chose to cast Reverse Gravity....This was total chaos....Now the game was really afoot..........


Assassin 15 gp
Barbarian (Throg) 5gp
Bard (Balustrade) 23gp
Cavalier -15gp
Cleric (Sister Jericho) 18gp
Druid (Moss) 20gp
FFiigghhtteerr (Foghorn) 4ggpp
Monk 19gp
Ranger (Granger) 15gp
Rogue (Ronni) 36gp
Sorcerer (Edgiban) 19gp
Pala-Tavern Keeper-Din (Roland Butter) 18gp
Thief 15 gp
Warlock (Jeremy) 17gp
Wizard (Book) 17gp

 

[Yaarel]

Monk (Bruce Leigh).