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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9162410" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Don't fall prey to equivocation here. Those two statements say radically different things."Fighters suck because 'Fighter,' the class, gives no useful (exploring/social) tools that aren't perfectly identical to what all other characters get."Vs"Fighter is the only class which embodies archetypes X, Y, and Z, so if you want to express those things, you don't have any other choice."These two thoughts are perfectly compatible with one another. It just sounds similar if one uses vague, overly-condensed phrasing. The first sentence is about capability within the rules and processes of the game: the only truly unique thing Fighters can do mechanically is make more attacks than any other character, but there are several things thematically which are, by design (and that much to my chagrin), unique to the Fighter.And yes, I ascribe to both statements. The Fighter (prior to the most recent playtest version) sucks because it has no unique tools apart from making more attacks and acting twice in a turn sometimes, both of which are combat tools. Yet at the same time, the Fighter is the only class that can carry certain archetypes with any degree of thematic fit, even if its tools for fulfilling those archetypes are feeble.The playtest has finally, finally begun making motions in the direction of fixing this problem. I have proposed two changes that, IMO, would just barely cross the line into "tolerable" for me, something I could accept as functional even if I would prefer going much further.In brief: (1) decouple Tactical Mind from Second Wind, there is no reason the Fighter should have to give up essential healing in order to get what is, quite literally, merely a suped-up cantrip, and (2) add (after full testing!) a feature like my Gritty Determination (TL;DR: pool = top ability mod + Fighter lv, spend 1:1 to improve any non-Initiative ability check by a total up to your Prof score, stacks with Prof/Expert, must be spent before rolling).Oh, and I guess (3) for the love of God don't give any of these tools to anyone else. TM should definitely be Fighter 2 or even 3, and Gritty Determination can be 3-5 depending on when they get TM. Simply too deep for anyone to bother multiclassing just to get those tools (especially since my Gritty Determination feature really depends on getting more Fighter levels to be worthwhile.)Do those things and the Fighter at last has something. It ain't much, but it's honest work. With TM and GD, the Fighter offers soaring highs, as opposed to the Rogue's consistent performance. In a sense, the two swap in combat vs noncombat. Rogues have Reliable Talent and innate Expertise, making their performance floor extremely high, while this hypothetical Fighter can potentially knock an ability check completely out of the park, but may also fall abysmally short. Conversely, Rogues in combat need special conditions to be able to do Big Damage, but Fighters just plug away, making tons of attacks every round and then giving themselves the ability to do it some more now and then.That's a reasonably interesting mechanical niche for both classes. Fighters are reliable in combat and swingy outside it. Rogues are swingy in combat and reliable outside it.</blockquote>

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