Fighter

Tordek, The manliest of all the Fighters. He is in it for the bitches.

The Fighter is one of the basic classes in almost every RPG system ever made.

Class role

The fighter's primary role is serving as a meat shield and smashing things. Fighters can wear armor and use powerful weapons. They are also traditionally good at physical activities like jumping, riding animals, balancing, and drowning under the weight of their own armor. Without fighter(s), a party typically needs to replace them via summoning or enchantment, to ensure that the GM doesn't casually pick off at least one party member on any given day.

Dungeons and Dragons

In D&D the Fighter class has existed since the very first incarnations (then called "fighting-man").

In the 1st and 2nd editions, the fighter's strength was endurance. His killing power lasted far longer than that of magic-users, as he could not run out of sword. By rule, it was possible for a fighter to obtain a level of armor fairly early on that made him unhittable unless the attacker rolled a natural 20. This even worked against touch attacks, as the rules granted them no bonus to hit. Fighters could also mass many hit points. They had the best "THAC0" chance of any class to hit enemies. Gear loss was not a problem in 1e, as the fighter could wear any armor and use any weapon found. The optional 2e "proficiency" skill system didn't create much of a drawback for fighters, since the fighter penalty for using a weapon unskilled was only -2 to hit, and the nonweapon proficiencies were mostly worthless medieval fluff like Cobbling and Heraldry. In 2nd edition, fighters received bonus attacks based on their level, and these bonus attacks had no penalty to hit. An exceptional Strength score, metered strangely in the format "18/nn", could add as many as 6 points of damage to every hit. With new 2e rules for bows allowing 2 shots per combat round at level 1, with the common sheaf arrow dealing an entire d10 "hit die" worth of damage, and with the advent of the "Odysseus-style" composite longbow adding Strength bonus to arrow damage, fighters were a serious threat at any range. At the same time, 2nd edition spells were limited by onerous regulations, costly material components, and permanent crippling of the caster, making fighters the 2e kings of the battlefield. However, the fighter's "saving throw" defenses against special attacks in both 1e and 2e were absolutely wretched, making him a sitting duck for paralysis, petrification, breath weapons, death magic, magic wands, spells, and most horribly, poison, which was everywhere in 1e and 2e and meant almost certain death. Many found playing a 1e/2e fighter boring because every problem was solved in largely the same way, and found the extra dice rolling to be a chore rather than a pleasure.

In 3.x, the advent of Feats was supposed to make fighters more attractive to play. The fighter gets loads of feats, making it the only class that can take more than one full-size feat tree (Archery, Weapon Specialization, etc.) But feats brought a nerf in disguise. Fighters could no longer use the best weapons like the "spiked chain" without spending feats to do so, or taking a significant -4 penalty to hit. The only fighter feats really worth getting involved a horrible exploit in 3.0 called "the bag of rats" (the fighter dropped a bag full of rats in front of an enemy, then used Whirlwind Attack feat to attack all the rats in a single round, then used Great Cleave to get a free attack on the enemy for each rat killed. This was clobbered in 3.5.) There were other nerfs as well. Bonus attacks received hit penalties that made them nigh worthless. Bow rate of fire and damage was nerfed, and crossbows, which any character could use, got a significant damage increase. The new skill system overtook things that any character could do in previous versions of the game, and with their tiny number of "skill points", fighters became helpless bumbling buffoons in just about everything. Meanwhile, spells became so powerful that a single caster could bring down entire armies in one or two rounds. The result was that your party was better off having any character with Summon Monster I than with a fighter. Fighter became something you multi-classed your rogue or cleric into for one level, in order to get their level 1 automatic feats Martial Weapons, Tower Shields, all armors, +d10 hp, full attack bonus, and a bonus feat.

In 4th edition, the Fighter is listed as a "Defender". His main purpose is to serve as a meatshield and prevent the enemies from getting close to the squishies behind them. Fighters do more single-target damage than any other class in the game that isn't a "Striker" (and in some cases can out-damage strikers, especially if they get a lot of opportunity attacks). They also make the squares around them a living hell for any marked foe who tries to move through them at all. They come in five flavors: "Great Weapon" (uses two-handed weapons, considered to be a striker "by the back door"), "Guardian" (the archetypical 4th Edition fighter, uses a one-hand weapon and a shield, has primary access to most of the best Fighter powers including the truly awesome Tide of Iron at-will), "Battlerager" (a berserker fighter build, lives on yummy, yummy, temporary hit points), "Tempest" (a two-weapon fighter build for those who feel like they cannot live without a two-weapon warrior who wears heavy armor), and "Brawler" (uses a one-handed weapon, but leaves the other hand open so they can grab people to use them as human shields, break faces, or snap necks).