The Fighter: Secrets of the Blade
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"While you partied, I studied the blade." - Anon.
Fighting Just for Fun
Wizards sling spells, barbarians withstand fearsome blows, and clerics call upon divine powers.
What glory is left for the simple fighter?
Whenever I sit down to work on a class—which I've been doing a lot of lately—I ask myself a few questions.
- What is the "Core Feature" of this class?
- How and how often can the class features be used?
- Does it feel fun?
In anticipation of a gorgeous vista, my family and I invested in a few hours of hiking, and came upon a scene of open fields of wild-flowers, and a small lake at the far end of the valley.
In anticipation of an evening of laughter and hijinks, I wrote my own GLOGhack, and my friends and family spent a few hours exploring a dungeon, fighting goblins, and ripping the legs of a Skeletal Champion.
So, when someone chooses to play as a Fighter, what do they anticipate, how do they get there, and is there a solid chance of pay out?
Let's take a peek.
The Fighter
This one's simple enough. Any time you make an attack, you get a bonus to hit. That makes Fighters the most likely class to hit, which makes sense. If you've dedicated your life to ending other folks' lives, you should be good at it.
Starting Equipment: Shortsword, Shield, Shortbow & Arrows, 2 Daggers, Chain Shirt
Fairly standard starting gear. Fighters don't get an HP boost, but are typically going to be front-liners, so they'll benefit from better armor. They also get a variety of weapons with which to—well, fight.
Random Skill: Soldier | Mercenary | Noble
A. 2 Strikes, Parry, Hold the Line
B. Footwork, +1 Strike
C. Extra Attack, +1 Strike
D. Follow Through, +1 Strike
Essentially, where'd you learn to fight? These are just suggestions for those who don't have a solid idea of their character's background.
Strikes: You know 2 Strikes. Whenever you could make an attack on your turn, you may instead make a Strike from those you know. You may learn any of the Strikes from the Standard Strikes list. Various Masters exist in the world who know other strikes, and may be willing to teach you if they find you worth their time.
This is the meat and potatoes of the Fighter class, the "Core Feature", if you will. Like wizards, fighters have a list of abilities that they can choose from during a fight. Unlike wizards, they can use these strikes an unlimited amount of times. Essentially, this means that a strike needs to have a benefit and a drawback in comparison to a standard attack, or even making two attacks, as Fighters get Extra Attack at C.
Parry: If you are wielding a melee weapon, you may use your reaction to reduce incoming damage from a melee attack by 1d4.
Standard stuff, unless a Fighter is planning to use their reaction for something else, they should be parrying just about every round.
Hold the Line: If an enemy attempts to leave your melee reach, you may make an attack against it as a reaction. If the attack hits, your enemy ends its move before leaving your reach, and cannot move again until its next turn.
Here's "something else". A more situational use of their reaction, "Hold the Line" allows fighters to act as battlefield control on a small scale.
Footwork: Combat Maneuvers gain +2 to their rolls.
A combat maneuver replaces a character's "move" action on their turn, and allows them to modify the situation in some way, such as grappling, shoving, tripping, etc. Fighters are not limited to "playing clean" and are encouraged to win by any means necessary. A +2 to these rolls is handy, as fighters will probably be on the frontlines quite often.
Extra Attack: When you take the attack action, you may make a second attack as part of that action.
There it is. Notably, this does not work on strikes. ...Yet.
Follow Through: Whenever you make a successful strike, you may make a single attack immediately after.
An extra "Extra Attack", this doesn't guarantee the use of a second attack following every strike, but it does make Strikes a little more appealing in comparison to "just swinging twice".
STANDARD STRIKE LIST
Again, the goal of each strike is to be a bonus in certain situations. While they won't always apply, they should be general enough to be useful. Let me know in the comments if you think any are severely over/under powered.
Careful Shot: At the beginning of your turn, make a ranged attack with +5 to hit. Your turn then ends.Charging Strike: Immediately after moving at least 15’, make an attack with advantage against 1 creature. On a hit, the creature is also shoved 5’ back.
Cleaving Strike: Make a melee attack with disadvantage against 1 creature in range. On a hit, you may deal the same damage to 2 other creatures within range.
Disarming Strike: Make a DEX attack against a creature holding a weapon or similar object. On a hit, instead of dealing damage, the item drops to the ground.
Evasive Strike: Make an attack with disadvantage against a creature within melee range. Hit or miss, that creature has disadvantage on all attacks against you until the end of its next turn.
Feinting Strike: A creature must make a WIS save as you make a feint, if it fails you automatically succeed an attack against it.
Lunging Strike: Increase your reach by 5 feet until the end of your turn, then make a melee attack.
Pinning Shot: Make an attack with a ranged weapon. On a hit, the target takes ½ damage, but cannot move until it spends its turn pulling out the projectile.
Powerful Strike: Make an attack taking -5 to the roll. If it hits, roll twice as many dice as normal.
Shield Slam: Attempt to daze an opponent with your shield by making a STR check against their AC. On a success, they are stunned until the end of their next turn.
Switch-up Strike: Trade places with an ally within 5 feet, then make an attack.
Taunting Strike: Make an attack against an opponent while shouting an insult. Hit or miss, they must make a WIS save or use their next turn attempting to kill you.
Secrets of the Blade
The following are Strikes that can be learned from Masters out in the world. A fighter may know rumors of these masters and where to find them, but will often have to perform some kind of quest in order to convince the Master to teach them.
If you have more ideas for Secrets of the Blade, feel free to plop them in the comments!
Many thanks to CyberChronometer of Phlox's GLoG Server for supplying these. I've tinkered with them, but none are original to me.
Abyssal Lance: Make a melee attack dealing 1/2 damage against any enemy you can see, ignoring reach.
Bramble Strike: Make an attack. If you hit, instead of dealing damage, you summon brambles entangling the target, reducing its speed to half and dealing 1d4 damage to it every time it moves.
Dizzying Charge: Make a melee attack after moving at least 10 feet in a straight line; if it hits, the target is confused (Disadvantage on all checks) until the end of its next turn.
Enfeebling Strike: Make an attack dealing 1/2 damage. If you hit, the target deals half damage until the end of its next turn.
Exorcist's Strike: Make a melee attack against a fiend or undead creature. If it hits, the target must make a CHA save or skips its next turn.
Exploding Arrow: Make a ranged attack dealing 1/2 damage. If you hit, apply the same damage to all other creatures within 20 feet of the target.
Fanged Strike: Make an attack; if you hit, the target takes no immediate damage, but loses 1d6 HP at the end of its turn until it receives healing.
Frenzied Momentum: Make a melee attack. If you deal damage, your next attack deals bonus damage equal to the damage this attack dealt.
Ironmonger's Throw: Make a melee attack using Strength. If you hit, your target is thrown up to 20 feet in the direction opposite you, and takes 1d6 additional damage per 10 feet it traveled.
Life-Sealing Strike: Make an attack dealing 1/2 damage; if you hit, the target is immune to magical healing for 1 minute.
Lionheart Command: Make a melee attack dealing 1/2 damage. If you hit, each of your allies that hits the target before your next turn does +[steps] extra damage.
Piercing Gale: Make a ranged attack. Until you miss, you may make an additional attack against a target within range directly behind the previous target.
Seeking Shot: Make a ranged attack dealing 1/2 damage against an enemy you've seen within the last 10 minutes; the arrow follows them, moving around cover and corners. If you hit, you also learn the target's current location.
Shadow Shot: Make a ranged attack dealing 1/2 damage. If you hit, the target is blind until the end of its next turn.
Smoking Mirror Strike: Make a melee attack dealing 1/2 damage. If it hits, the target must make a WIS save or take as much damage as it deals next round.
Time-Thief's Talons: Make a melee attack against a creature who damaged you since your last turn. If you hit, regain as much damage as you deal.
Timeless Trek: Make an attack dealing no damage. If you hit, the target is teleported into an everlasting fey party for the next 1d6 centuries. It returns 1 round later for every century it was gone; it does not age, but is extremely drunk when it returns.
Venom Hand: Make an attack. If it hits, the target has disadvantage on saving throws against poisons until it rests.
Whirlpool Draw: Draw a weapon. If you do, make a melee attack against every enemy you were within reach of this round.
Witch's Revenge: Make a melee attack dealing 1/2 damage. If you hit, the target must make a CON save or suffer a curse that reduces an ability score of your choice by 2 until it rests.
For additional reading:
https://madqueenscourt.blogspot.com/2020/04/glog-fight-book-techniques-for-fighters.html
https://as-they-must.blogspot.com/2019/11/ten-of-swords-class-fighter-again.html
https://crateredland.blogspot.com/2020/04/gloghacks-are-my-comfort-food.html
https://crateredland.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-fighter.html
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