Fighters come in all shapes and sizes, but many of you have an iconic fighter that just came to mind when you read that word. For some of you, it’s a massive warrior in gothic plate mail, for others it could be a swashbuckler that is almost more rogue than fighter, others might have seen a lean brawler, and still others might have seen a mountain of muscle that makes pro-wrestlers look like 10-year-olds. Those are just the melee guys; that’s not even touching ranged fighters with bows, guns, or throwing weapons, and it doesn’t get into every other variant imaginable.

All of them are fighters; all of them have the job of being the damage-dealing brutalizers of the battlefield. However, each of them have a certain panache with how they do that, and that it largely determined by their statistics and attributes, not to mention the player’s playing style. I’ll run down a few of these; and I’m sticking with the old-school stats and not going into prestige classes or other specializations; just going through the list to see what role playing does for our simple fighter.

Today is all about the physical fighters.

Strength-based Fighter

These fighters excel at hitting things really hard. Whether they’re lean and wiry or mountains of muscle, they have one thing that they do better than anything else; hit the enemy so hard it breaks their spleen. It is common that they wield larger weapons and do it with such authority that, depending on system, the damage bonuses are greater than the damage dice of their weaponry.

Dexterity-based Fighter

Relying more on agility and maneuverability than their meatier brethren, these fighters are usually all over the battlefield and have a wider-array of tactics. Because of the mechanics of the games we play, they also are most likely to be ranged fighters, relying on superior hand-eye-coordination to do damage from a distance.

Constitution-based Fighter

They have one main purpose, and that is to take the hit. They are a hit-point shield, protecting their fellow party members or maybe just wading into combat with little regard for themselves. Constitution-based fighters usually have a secondary trick up their sleeve; they are usually paired with a high Dexterity or Strength to round out their skill set.