Whats wrong with the 3E fighter?

[erc1971]

I have never had a problem with the fighter. In fact, in the last 3.5 campaign I ran, the fighter was probably the most powerful character. The game had no characters using feat combo's for uber abilities, ended around level 13, and I let all casters cast spontaneously. Yes, at 13th level, the fighter was kicking ass just fine in a game where I let wizards cast spontaneously.

Eric

 

[Nifft]

Just plain old vanilla Fighter with a complete disregard for their own safety.

How did you run up the wall?

Anyway, it sounds like you've got some house rules which allow the Fighter to circumvent some of his built-in limitations, but you've got to realize that in a more conservative game you'd be failing to do awesome stuff.

(... and also, realize that any special rules the Fighter can use, the Barbarian can probably use better.)

Cheers, -- N

 

[Felix]

That's my main problem with the fighter. Strip a >10th level caster of his magical gear and in most cases, all you do is lower their stamina. They basically can duplicate all of the magical gear effect with their OWN powers.

Nice of you to only mention stripping them of magical gear. You'd better hope they have Eschew Materials and no need for a focus if they get their equipment taken away. Meanwhile the Fighter can dish out death and destruction with a pointy stick.

In the end, it's campaign dependent. If the party is able to control the frequency of encounters and has good knowledge of what enemies they'll be facing, casters will be able to prepare and blow their load of spells. This will make them much more dominant than mundanes.

If the party cannot easily control when encounters happen or rememorize their spells, or remain unaware of what challenges they'll face, casters will find half their spells useless, and the other half quickly drained. This will make the mundanes, who have less potent but longer lasting damage-dealing resources, dominant.

Even after level 10, this is true. It's also true that PCs are better able to squirm out of tight spots at higher levels, but then the NPCs will also have quick-strike magic on their side. The dominance comparison is a wash if the DM runs it so.

 

[Azgulor]

QFT.

Preach it, my brother! The fighter needs some lovin'.

Or maybe it was just me thinking I was having fun while I was really not having fun but didn't realize it...