Fighter builds

[Hadwyn]

There are a few different options in my mind:

Classification: Tank
Generally: Full Plate Armor
Options: Cavalier, Two-Handed, One-Hand with Shield

The concept is to provide as much defense as possible while still having some offense. The more offense you desire, the more you go for a two-handed weapon combat style. The cavalier is possible with either concept, though potentially best hosted by one using a shield.

Classification: Duelist
Generally: Studded Leather Armor, Dual-Wield

Give up on the idea of armor as a defense and rely solely on your reflexes and cutting your opponents down to size as quickly as possible. Depending on your dexterity bonus, you can play with your armor to best fit that moment of your character's development.

From a general standpoint, I have seen both of these concepts be successful. I have seen the duelist throttle a tank in one-on-one combat and I have seen some tanks outlast a duelist. Archer-type fighters seems to generally be better off with the Ranger class rather than Fighter. The minimally armored two-handed barbarian does not seem to work without the feats that make that type of character run.

[Terageld]

There are a few different options in my mind:

Classification: Tank
Generally: Full Plate Armor
Options: Cavalier, Two-Handed, One-Hand with Shield

The concept is to provide as much defense as possible while still having some offense. The more offense you desire, the more you go for a two-handed weapon combat style. The cavalier is possible with either concept, though potentially best hosted by one using a shield.

Classification: Duelist
Generally: Studded Leather Armor, Dual-Wield

Give up on the idea of armor as a defense and rely solely on your reflexes and cutting your opponents down to size as quickly as possible. Depending on your dexterity bonus, you can play with your armor to best fit that moment of your character's development.

From a general standpoint, I have seen both of these concepts be successful. I have seen the duelist throttle a tank in one-on-one combat and I have seen some tanks outlast a duelist. Archer-type fighters seems to generally be better off with the Ranger class rather than Fighter. The minimally armored two-handed barbarian does not seem to work without the feats that make that type of character run.

Do cavaliers actually work in game? I feel like horses are just so squishy.

[Yemin]

Short answer... not really no because of a myriad of reasons other than squishiness.

FYI, mounts in tabletop are just as squishy but there are feats to protect them usually. Their good for transport though and even with the recovery time on their stamina its not comparable to the sometime strain on patience from meditate

Mounted combat
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Mounte ... %28Feat%29

[Yemin]

So, back to this wonderful, wonderful class.

I have an idea in mind for a new fighter, but I had in mind to ask for any ideas that would supplement my own.

I wanted to build something that i'm sure has seen a few entries here. A reaver / pirate.

I'm interested to know how others would go about making these. Just an aside, at the moment I feel like a rapier and dagger, or two cutlasses, basically, a two weapon fighter modeled after one of the main characters in the novel called reaver in the sundering series.

Or is this entirey wrong, is a true reaver a rogue?

Let me know.

[Harroghty]

Cavaliers totally work. Harroghty has the full mounted combat feat tree and routinely fights from horseback. Sure, this doesn't work with any ol' nag, but neither does it in real life; one needs a warhorse (RACE_HORSE_HEAVYWAR or RACE_HORSE_LIGHTWAR in FK terms). Add some armor to the horse and some magical horseshoes (which abound), and your horse is a great sidekick.

I find that duelists are far less viable because fighting with two weapons or a primary weapon and a buckler is not big on damage output, and fighting in lighter armor only really works (in my experience) if you end it quickly enough to limit damage to yourself. Eventually, one can get away with this in PvE pretty well (Harroghty can stroll around without armor and survive pretty well) in most circumstances (until you stumble across something nasty), but it never really has any hope of success in PvP.

[Yemin]

I did a complete 180 on the mounted combat issue once I actually played around with Xand yes. Where the environs allows mounts to be taken along, which are quite a few. Mounts are amazing combat partners. Often even outperforming their rider in terms of evasion. I had a griffon and took it into combat often. Had very little fear I'd ever lose it, even if it was the one griffon per char type.

As for the build, you make good points. What thoughts do you have on medium / light armor versus heavy. as a pirate, he / she wouldn't be employing plate armor but for the short experiment with even just medium armor I did. There seemed to be quite a noticeable difference between how often the char evaded attacks,even in total there was only a 1 to 2 ac difference in the different wear locations.

I had thought that the lighter armor category would mean dodge skill would play a bigger roll when it adds the unseen passive AC boost per attack, ontop of shieldwork and parry but it didnt' seem to at all.

In anycase, my experiences of fighters here has been myriad and fun. If this doesn't pan out the way I want, I was going to return to my old favourite, heavy plate, sword and board. I can never bring myself to like two weapon users on any platform.