Fighter options

[elf23]

Inspired by my recent thoughts on combining the thief, assassin and acrobat into a single class, I've been wondering about doing something similar for the warrior classes.

My preference for class-based games is to stick to the basics - a small number of very archetypal classes (fighter, thief, cleric, magic-user) perhaps with a few small options, and with a lot of room for a player to put their own imagination into. So, for example, rather than having separate classes for Barbarians and Rangers, I prefer to just make those "flavour" elements of the simple fighter class. (I'd let a wilderness type character know about tracking as a kind of "secondary skill", for example - just part of the character's background, without making it part of a specific skill system or class ability.)

The fighter class as it stands, however, has no options at all, so here's the kind of thing I've been thinking of:

At character creation a fighter gets to choose one of the following options:

• Leader - allies within 30' get +1 on saves against fear effects, and henchmen get +1 to morale.
• Defender - one ally within 5' gets a +1 AC bonus, due to the fighter's defence.
• Slayer - choose one type of enemy creature (dragons, giants, etc), gain +1 to hit and +1 damage against creatures of that type.
• Weapon master - choose one specialist weapon (long sword, battle axe, etc), gain +1 to hit with that weapon type. Also gain extra attcks 5 levels earlier when using the chosen weapon.
• Berserker - not sure on the rules specifics, but you can imagine...

The intention is to make a set of small variants on the fighter, not to make these into full blown series of abilities like a full class would have ("at 3rd level you get the ability to X, at 7th level you can Y, etc").

Anyone got any thoughts, ideas for more "options" or tried this kind of thing before?

[monk]

Your philosophy for classes is almost exactly the same as mine. If someone wants an Illusionist, they are a magic-user with a little mod thrown in. I have a mini-obsession with tweaking the fighter class, mostly because I want to add just a tiny bit to it...but not too much! So I've gone through various stages of additions and retractions. Right now i'm using the "Warrior Boons" feature from Fight On! #9.

[Blood axe]

Neat stuff! I dont have "Fight On!" but it sounds good.

I do the same thing with Clerics. A Cleric of Poseidon should be a little different than a Cleric of Thor.

[scadgrad]

I try to make playing a fighter a very attractive option and have house rules to prop them up into serious beatdown machines. Weapon Spec at 2nd level, then again at 7th allows the fighter to be very good at a particular weapon or with a couple of weapons. The unified damage from the B/X Companion means that all those whacky +2 weapons become more interesting so you may have a guy with a +2 short sword and a +2 spear who decides to fight in the Greek Hoplite style. Weapon spec guys get to crit on 19s w/ their primary weapon and they can also cleave vs mooks. The shields will be splintered rule makes the sword and board guys very flavorful also. I'll have a look at the article in Fight On! #9.

[monk]

I try to make playing a fighter a very attractive option and have house rules to prop them up into serious beatdown machines.

Me too. I know it's traditional to some extent, but having a fighting man that's almost just like everyone else, except no special abilities and a few more hp is not that appealing. Everybody wants to think of their character as being at least a little badass.

[elf23]

Interesting this seems to be a common house rule in one way or another. It appears that the traditional "variation" between two fighters of choosing different weapons and/or armour isn't quite enough!

I think magic-users get the best lot in that respect, as they can potentially have some pretty different spells in their repertoire.

I'll have to check out that issue of Fight on! for the fighter options...

[monk]

The mini-article in FO! has very simple "boons", but they are pretty nice. For example, one is that the warrior gets a +2 to strength. Another is that he develops ambidexterity when it comes to weapon wielding and can add some bonus damage.

When you read the stories of Conan and other pulp fiction, I think they really present an attractive version of the "warrior". That, and the fact that your fighter PC is theoretically spending as much time on his fighting skills as a mage does on magic, a thief on thieving skills, etc. seems to support the idea of increasing the badassery of said fighter.

[elf23]

The mini-article in FO! has very simple "boons", but they are pretty nice. For example, one is that the warrior gets a +2 to strength. Another is that he develops ambidexterity when it comes to weapon wielding and can add some bonus damage.

Ooh those are two nice ones I can add to my list Actually the +2 Strength sort of mimics the Cavalier from 1e Unearthed Arcana, interesting...

I was also thinking about making the ever-popular "shields shall be split" house rule fighters only, that'd give them a great and unique ability!

[bat]

You might check out Harmyn's Warden class. It is very well written. I became a Lotro addict in November and am now playing a Warden in that game, and it is similar to the class that Harmyn made, which is awesome. Now if I could get to play one instead of running the game...

[Skathros]

I always liked Weapon Mastery (I know, i'm in the minority). The greater number of WM slots just made the fighter that much more proficient in his primary role. I have a Weapon Mastery for Labyrinth Lord doc on my page, if anyone's interested.