Fighter



=Fighter=

The fighter is the classic melee combatant and an excellent tank, but it can also excel at ranged combat.

Alignment
There are no alignment constraints similar to those for a PnP Fighter. However, the usual DDO constraints on alignment apply. Click here for comments on starting a fighter.

Skills
First level skill points: (2 + INTMOD) * 4

Subsequent level skill points: 2 + INTMOD

The fighter’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Repair (Int) and Swim (Str).

Advancement Table
 

Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies

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

=Playing a Fighter= I played a human (to get the extra feat) fighter for 8 of my 10 days of beta. I found him much more capable of soloing when necessary than the other classes I played. With the toughness feat and decent con. score he had reached 88 hp by 4th level. (I had just made the xp for 5th level when my beta expired).

The fighter is very much the classic front line of defense and main damage dealer at lower levels (frequently striking for 25 or so hp with a single blow). In parties I tried not to charge too far ahead of my comrades (often lagging slightly behind a wary rogue) but knew to step up to the plate when danger arose. I frequently stepped between a mage or cleric and a charging minotaur but was often rewarded with a heal or bull strength in return. While a fighter is probably able to handle most situations alone simply through brute strength and a few healing or protection potions he works best when part of a party.

I found the best balance when we had 2 fighter types (a ranger, barbarian or paladin would often accompany us) 2 clerics (healing is often brutally necessary and shrines are often few and far between) a wizard and a rogue (the last being so crucial to detecting and defeating some very ingenious and nasty traps). I created my fighter with 18 str, 14 each dex and con, 8's for int, wis and charisma. By taking the fighter strength action point and the strength increase at 4th level as well as a ring of ogre strength (+1 str) I had reached 21 str at 4th level. This made for some nice damage dealing.

I took weapon focus, toughness and power attack initially, later picking up point blank shot and weapon specialization (with slashing weapons) for my feats. I put most of my meager skill points into jump and swim (I found that with my strength it wasn't a problem to swim in full armor and later got a ring of underwater action which was lots of fun). In classic pen and paper D&D which I've played for about 30 years I usually play a rogue/wizard (which I started as in DDO), but when the game goes live I believe I'll ressurect my fighter because I enjoyed playing him immensely and highly reccommend that you try the class. -Gugran

Arms & Armor
Armor

I'd recommend going with the best armor you can find without sacrificing your dex bonus. If your dex is 1 or less, that means Full Plate. If your dexterity is 2 or 3 and you should be wearing breastplate. If you've got a Dex bonus of +4 for some reason go with a Chain Shirt.

Weapons

Defensive

A heavy shield with a longsword (4.5+STRMOD average damage 19-20 x2 crit) is your best combination here. If you plan on being defensive, Improved Shield Bash and a spiked shield is a must. If you need a slightly better weapon, pay a feat to use the Exotic Weapon Proficiency with bastard sword (5.5+STRMOD average damage w/ 19-20 X2 crit).

Offensive

The best offensive weapons are two-handed. It allows you to add 1 and 1/2 of your strength to an already powerful weapon. My favorite is the greatsword (7+(StrMod*1.5) average X2 19-20 Crit), but the greataxe is also nice (6.5+(StrMod*1.5) average X3 Crit).

However, the advantages of two-handed weapons shrink away as you gain access to more powerful kinds of equipment (DDO is a Monty Haul game, after all). A giant-bane longsword and greatsword both do an extra 2d6 to that particular enemy, so the raw weapon damage is only a small portion of the total damage output. Plus, wielding two-handed means you can't use a shield. At lower levels you are giving up a +2 AC bonus a heavy shield provides, but once you're 6th level and start finding items like a +3 Heavy Steel Shield of Fire Resistance (which would provide a +5 AC bonus plus fire resistance) you are giving up a lot of protection to swing with both hands.

Therefore, use two-handed at low levels if you want, but don't invest feats on improving them, because you'll eventually want to switch to magic longsword and magic shield.