This site is games | books | films

Fighter, “The Martial Master”

Fighter
(223) Discord | @Midjourney Bot

Some take up arms for glory, wealth, or revenge. Others do battle to prove themselves, to protect others, or because they know nothing else. Still others learn the ways of weaponcraft to hone their bodies in battle and prove their mettle in the forge of war.

Lords of the battlefield, fighters are a disparate lot, training with many weapons or just one, perfecting the uses of armor, learning the fighting techniques of exotic masters, and studying the art of combat, all to shape themselves into living weapons. Far more than mere thugs, these skilled warriors reveal the true deadliness of their weapons, turning hunks of metal into arms capable of taming kingdoms, slaughtering monsters, and rousing the hearts of armies. Soldiers, knights, hunters, and artists of war, fighters are unparalleled champions, and woe to those who dare stand against them.

Role: Fighters excel at combat defeating their enemies, controlling the flow of battle, and surviving such sorties themselves. While their specific weapons and methods grant them a wide variety of tactics, few can match fighters for sheer battle prowess.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d10.

Starting Wealth: 5d6 x 10 gp (average 175gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills

The fighter’s class skills are Climb (Strength), Craft (Intelligence), Handle Animal (Charisma), Intimidate (Charisma), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Intelligence), Knowledge (engineering) (Intelligence), Profession (Wisdom), Ride (Dexterity), Survival (Wisdom), and Swim (Strength).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 2 + Intelligence modifier.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level 2 + Intelligence modifier.

The Fighter
LevelBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecial
1st+1+2+0+0Bonus feat
2nd+2+3+0+0Bonus feat, bravery +1
3rd+3+3+1+1Armor training
4th+4+4+1+1Bonus feat
5th+5+4+1+1Weapon training
6th+6/+1+5+2+2Bonus feat, bravery +2
7th+7/+2+5+2+2Armor training
8th+8/+3+6+2+2Bonus feat
9th+9/+4+6+3+3Weapon training
10th+10/+5+7+3+3Bonus feat, bravery +3
11th+11/+6/+1+7+3+3Armor training
12th+12/+7/+2+8+4+4Bonus feat
13th+13/+8/+3+8+4+4Weapon training
14th+14/+9/+4+9+4+4Bonus feat, bravery +4
15th+15/+10/+5+9+5+5Armor training
16th+16/+11/+6/+1+10+5+5Bonus feat
17th+17/+12/+7/+2+10+5+5Weapon training
18th+18/+13/+8/+3+11+6+6Bonus feat, bravery +5
19th+19/+14/+9/+4+11+6+6Armor mastery
20th+20/+15/+10/+5+12+6+6Bonus feat, Weapon mastery

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the fighter.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A fighter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).

Bonus Feats

At 1st level, a fighter gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to the feat that any 1st-level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The fighter gains an additional bonus feat at 2nd level and every two fighter levels thereafter (4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, and 20th). These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A fighter must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums.

These bonus feats are in addition to the feat that a character of any class gets from advancing levels. A fighter is not limited to the list of fighter bonus feats when choosing these feats.

Bravery (Ex)

Starting at 2nd level, a fighter gains a +1 bonus on Will saves against fear. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd.

Armor Training (Ex)

Starting at 3rd level, a fighter learns to be more maneuverable while wearing armor. Whenever he is wearing armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0) and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by his armor by 1. Every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, and 15th), these bonuses increase by +1 each time, to a maximum -4 reduction of the armor check penalty and a +4 increase of the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed.

In addition, a fighter can also move at his normal speed while wearing medium armor. At 7th level, a fighter can move at his normal speed while wearing heavy armor.

Weapon Training (Ex)

Starting at 5th level, a fighter can select one group of weapons, as noted below. Whenever he attacks with a weapon from this group, he gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls.

Every four levels thereafter (9th, 13th, and 17th), a fighter becomes further trained in another group of weapons. He gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when using a weapon from this group. In addition, the bonuses granted by previous weapon groups increase by +1 each.

For example, when a fighter reaches 9th level, he receives a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with one weapon group and a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls with the weapon group selected at 5th level. Bonuses granted from overlapping groups do not stack. Take the highest bonus granted for a weapon if it resides in two or more groups.

A fighter also adds this bonus to any combat maneuver checks made with weapons from this group. This bonus also applies to the fighter’s Combat Maneuver Defense when defending against disarm and sunder attempts made against weapons from this group.

Weapon groups are defined as follows (GMs may add other weapons to these groups, or add entirely new groups):

Miniatura de la Biblia Maciejowski
Miniatura de la Biblia Maciejowski

Armor Mastery (Ex)

At 19th level, a fighter gains Damage Reduction 5/- whenever he is wearing armor or using a shield.

Weapon Mastery (Ex)

At 20th level, a fighter chooses one weapon, such as the longswordgreataxe, or longbow. Any attacks made with that weapon automatically confirm all critical threats and have their damage multiplier increased by 1 (×2 becomes ×3, for example). In addition, he cannot be disarmed while wielding a weapon of this type.

Fighter Character Concepts

woman, warrior, armor-2371363.jpg

The Quintessential Fighter
Author Matthew Sprange
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2002

A fighter is far more than a mere sword-swinger. Indeed, he has the potential to be the most flexible character class of all, for his consummate skill in combat leaves plenty of room for role-players to concentrate on his background, past associations, recent history and most of all, why he actually became a fighter in the first place.

Whether running from the forces of law and order as an outlaw, just completing a term of service within a mercenary warband or having performed heroic acts to defend his home village, every fighter has his or her own story to tell. Within this chapter we will take a look at greatly widening the possibilities for every character that starts off as a fighter.

Character Concepts provide a range of templates for each character class that will allow a player to quickly and easily create a ready background for every new character he generates. As well as providing both a small bonus and penalty to his character’s capabilities, each Character Concept gives a ready base for role-playing, thus greatly shortening the time taken during character creation, as well as granting that oft-needed inspiration so important for a player to feel ‘at home’ with his new character.

Any one Character Concept may be applied to a character as it is being created. The listed bonuses and penalties are applied, any role-playing description modified and adjusted to take into account the template and then the character is ready to play! From this point forth, both the player and the Games Master should be aware of the Character Concept chosen and take steps to ensure the character is played accordingly. It must be stressed, Character Concepts are a role-playing tool, not simply a method to gain lots of new abilities!

Scroll to Top