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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Argyle King" data-source="post: 6084526" data-attributes="member: 58416">My experience prior to military training (and after) has been the complete opposite.  I most certainly do believe there is overlap between what I did prior to service and what I did as a combat arms soldier; likewise, I also believe things I learned as part of my military training helped me elsewhere.Spot makes a lot of sense to me as a skill for a fighter.  One of the things which was pounded into my head the most at Benning was "attention to detail."  Being able to perceive what is going on around you is a great skill to have in a combat situation.  If we're talking melee fighting, being able to spot an opening in my opponent's style and technique -an opening I can exploit- is important too.  Likewise, being able to see targets is a pretty good skill to have for ranged attacks.  I grew up in a rural area; I did a lot of hunting, fishing, and hiking.  A lot of the skills I used to hunt animals -spot in particular- were useful when it came to being a soldier; spot was especially useful because one of the things I learned was to spot the outline and shape of targets when dealing with a visual situation which was obscured by bad lighting, foliage, and etc.  While, I suppose you could make the argument with that that I'd probably be classed as a ranger as a D&D character, and I wouldn't argue with that, I still would argue that spot (and being able to perceive what is going on around you) is a skill which is very useful to a soldier.  Even today, I find that being able to pay attention to detail is a valuable skill; in terms of athletics, I can spot openings and opportunities to score points during a sporting event that other people may not notice.  Knowledge (warfare) is also something which I feel is an important skill, and for similar reasons to spot.  Spot might be the ability to spot what is going on around you, but the ability to have a greater understanding of what is going on around you is important as well.  "Ok, I see that the enemy is doing X; based on that, I believe they are attempting to flank us."  Knowledge of strategy and tactics is a very important skill to have.  How important it is to you is going to vary wildly depending upon your position and rank, but it is nevertheless important.  Being able to implement and execute a strategy is the type of thing that can win wars.  I also suspect that Knowledge (warfare) might be something which covers logistics as well.  There are many famous sayings about logistics.  “The line between disorder and order lies in logistics…”- Sun Tzu“Leaders win through logistics. Vision, sure. Strategy,  yes. But when you go to war, you need to have both toilet paper and  bullets at the right place at the right time. In other words, you must  win through superior logistics.”- Tom Peters Prior to my military service, I was heavily involved in a lot of team sports such as hockey and football.  From a physical standpoint, I'd say those things helped me to be able to take the punishment involved with my military training.  From a mental standpoint, I'd say I had a good foundation for learning tactics and strategy from having to learn various plays and on-field movements.  I'd buy the argument that Knowledge (warfare) would fall into the realm of Warlord if the game includes that class.  Otherwise, it seems to fit the fighter.Handle Animal and Ride both make sense to me because animals are the jeeps, tanks, and trucks of the D&D world.  The three most important abilities for a military unit are their ability to shoot/fight, move, and communicate.  Animals greatly enhance the ability to do one of those things -move.  Depending upon the animal, they can also greatly enhance the ability to fight.  Vehicles (which is what I'm viewing animals as for this) have the potential to be a combat multiplier.  Genghis Khan conquered the world from horseback.  Imagine if he had pegasi or dragons available to him.  Mamluk lancers had great effect in their conflicts.  Hannibal had elephants; imagine if he had trained groups of Owlbears.  For similar reasons, Drive also makes sense to me.Personally, I would prefer that class not be so heavily tied to skill.  I liked the earlier idea that skill would be mostly influenced by background and theme.  However, if we're going to tie skill to class in some way, having these skills be available to a fighter makes sense to me.</blockquote>

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