Fighter

A human in clanging plate armor holds her shield before her as she runs toward the massed goblins. An elf behind her, clad in studded leather armor, peppers the goblins with arrows loosed from his exquisite bow. The half-orc nearby shouts orders, helping the two combatants coordinate their assault to the best advantage.

A dwarf in chain mail interposes his shield between the ogre’s club and his companion, knocking the deadly blow aside. His companion, a half-elf in scale armor, swings two scimitars in a blinding whirl as she circles the ogre, looking for a blind spot in its defenses.

A gladiator fights for sport in an arena, a master with his trident and net, skilled at toppling foes and moving them around for the crowd’s delight—and his own tactical advantage. His opponent’s sword flares with blue light an instant before she sends lightning flashing forth to smite him.

All of these heroes are fighters, perhaps the most diverse class of characters in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons. Questing knights, conquering overlords, royal champions, elite foot soldiers, hardened mercenaries, and bandit kings—as fighters, they all share an unparalleled mastery with weapons and armor, and a thorough knowledge of the skills of combat. And they are well acquainted with death, both meting it out and staring it defiantly in the face.

Well-Rounded Specialists

Fighters learn the basics of all combat styles. Every fighter can swing an axe, fence with a rapier, wield a longsword or a greatsword, use a bow, and even trap foes in a net with some degree of skill. Likewise, a fighter is adept with shields and every form of armor. Beyond that basic degree of familiarity, each fighter specializes in a certain style of combat. Some concentrate on archery, some on fighting with two weapons at once, and some on augmenting their martial skills with magic. This combination of broad general ability and extensive specialization makes fighters superior combatants on battlefields and in dungeons alike.

Trained for Danger

Not every member of the city watch, the village militia, or the queen’s army is a fighter. Most of these troops are relatively untrained soldiers with only the most basic combat knowledge. Veteran soldiers, military officers, trained bodyguards, dedicated knights, and similar figures are fighters.

Some fighters feel drawn to use their training as adventurers. The dungeon delving, monster slaying, and other dangerous work common among adventurers is second nature for a fighter, not all that different from the life he or she left behind. There are greater risks, perhaps, but also much greater rewards—few fighters in the city watch have the opportunity to discover a magic flame tongue sword, for example.

Creating a Fighter

As you build your fighter, think about two related elements of your character’s background: Where did you get your combat training, and what set you apart from the mundane warriors around you? Were you particularly ruthless? Did you get extra help from a mentor, perhaps because of your exceptional dedication? What drove you to this training in the first place? A threat to your homeland, a thirst for revenge, or a need to prove yourself might all have been factors.

You might have enjoyed formal training in a noble’s army or in a local militia. Perhaps you trained in a war academy, learning strategy, tactics, and military history. Or you might be self-taught—unpolished but well tested. Did you take up the sword as a way to escape the limits of life on a farm, or are you following a proud family tradition? Where did you acquire your weapons and armor? They might have been military issue or family heirlooms, or perhaps you scrimped and saved for years to buy them. Your armaments are now among your most important possessions—the only things that stand between you and death’s embrace.

The Fighter

Level	Features
1st	Fighting Style, Second Wind
2nd	Action Surge (one use)
3rd	Martial Archetype
4th	Ability Score Improvement
5th	Extra Attack
6th	Ability Score Improvement
7th	Martial Archetype feature
8th	Ability Score Improvement
9th	Indomitable (one use)
10th	Martial Archetype feature
11th	Extra Attack (2)
12th	Ability Score Improvement
13th	Indomitable (two uses)
14th	Ability Score Improvement
15th	Martial Archetype feature
16th	Ability Score Improvement
17th	Action Surge (two uses), Indomitable (three uses)
18th	Martial Archetype feature
19th	Ability Score Improvement
20th	Extra Attack (3)

Quick Build

You can make a fighter quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Strength or Dexterity your highest ability score, depending on whether you want to focus on melee weapons or on archery (or finesse weapons). Your next-highest score should be Constitution, or Intelligence if you plan to adopt the Eldritch Knight martial archetype. Second, choose the soldier background.

Class Features

As a fighter, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d10 per fighter level

Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier

Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per fighter level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: All armor, shields

Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons

Tools: None

Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution

Skills: Choose two skills from Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, and Survival

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) chain mail or (b) leather, longbow, and 20 arrows
• (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons
• (a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) two handaxes
• (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack

Fighting Style

 You adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again. 

Archery

 You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons. 

Defense

 While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC. 

Dueling

 When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon. 

Great Weapon Fighting

 When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit. 

Protection

 When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield. 

Two-Weapon Fighting

 When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack. 

Second Wind

 You have a limited well of stamina that you can draw on to protect yourself from harm. On your turn, you can use a bonus action to regain hit points equal to 1d10 + your fighter level. 
 Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. 

Action Surge

 Starting at 2nd level, you can push yourself beyond your normal limits for a moment. On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible bonus action. 
 Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. Starting at 17th level, you can use it twice before a rest, but only once on the same turn. 

Martial Archetype

 At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you strive to emulate in your combat styles and techniques. Choose Champion, Battle Master, or Eldritch Knight, all detailed at the end of the class description. The archetype you choose grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 10th, 15th, and 18th level. 

Ability Score Improvement

 When you reach 4th level, and again at 6th, 8th, 12th, 14th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. 

Extra Attack

 Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. 
 The number of attacks increases to three when you reach 11th level in this class and to four when you reach 20th level in this class. 

Indomitable

 Beginning at 9th level, you can reroll a saving throw that you fail. If you do so, you must use the new roll, and you can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest. 
 You can use this feature twice between long rests starting at 13th level and three times between long rests starting at 17th level. 

Martial Archetypes

Different fighters choose different approaches to perfecting their fighting prowess. The martial archetype you choose to emulate reflects your approach.

Xanathar’s Guide to Fighters

Let me know when you’re all done talking.

— Tordek

So there are different names for different sorts of people who swing swords? Why? Let me try: big sword swinger and tiny sword swinger. No, that sounds like it’s the size of the sword that matters. How about: big meat bag with a sword and little meat bag with a sword!

— Xanathar

Of all the adventurers in the worlds of D&D, the fighter is perhaps the greatest paradox. On the one hand, a singular feature of the class is that no two fighters ply their craft in quite the same way; their weapons, armor, and tactics differ across a vast spectrum. On the other hand, regardless of the tool sand methods one uses, at the heart of every fighter’s motivation lies the same basic truth: it is better to wound than to be wounded.

Although some adventuring fighters risk their lives fighting for glory or treasure, others are primarily concerned with the welfare of others. They put more value on the well-being of the society, the village, or the group that on their own safety. Even if there’s gold in the offering, the true reward for most fighters comes from sending enemies to their doom.

The sections below offer ways to add a little depth and a few personal touches to your fighter character.

Heraldic Sign

Fighters typically do battle for a cause. Some fight on behalf of kingdoms besieged by monsters, while others quest only for personal glory. In either case, a fighter often displays a heraldic sign that represents that cause, either adopting the symbol of a nation or a royal line, or creating a crest to represent one’s self-interest.

Your character could be affiliated with an organization or a cause, and thus might already travel under a banner of some sort. If that’s not the case, consider devising a heraldic sign that symbolizes an aspect of your nature or speak to what you see as your purpose in the world.

Examples:

• A rampant golden dragon on a green field, representing valor and a quest for wealth
• The fist of a storm giant clutching lightning before a storm cloud, symbolizing wrath and power
• Crossed greatswords in front of a castle gate, signifying the defense of a city or kingdom
• A skull with a dagger through it, representing the doom you bring to your enemies
• A phoenix in a ring of fire, an expression of an indomitable spirit
• Three drops of blood beneath a horizontal sword blade on a black background, symbolizing three foes you have sworn to kill

Instructor

Some fighters are natural-born combatants who have a talent for surviving in battle. Others learned the basics of their combat prowess in their formative years from spending time in a military or some other martial organization, when they were taught by the leaders of the group.

A third type of fighter comes from the ranks of those who received one-on-one instruction from an accomplished veteran of the craft. That instructor was, or perhaps still is, well versed in a certain aspect of combat that relates to the student’s background.

If you decide that your character had an individual instructor, what is that person’s specialty? Do you emulate your instruct in how you fight, or did you take the instructor’s teachings and adapt them to your own purposes?

Examples:

• Gladiator. Your instructor was a slave who fought for freedom in the arena, or one who willingly chose the gladiator’s life to earn money and fame.
• Military. Your trainer served with a group of soldiers and knows much about working as a team.
• City Watch. Crowd control and peacekeeping are your instructor’s specialties.
• Tribal Warrior. Your instructor grew up in a tribe, where fighting for one’s life was practically an everyday occurrence.
• Street Fighter. Your trainer excels at urban combat, combining close-quarters work with silence and efficiency.
• Weapon Master. Your mentor helped you to become one with your chosen weapon, by imparting highly specialized knowledge of how to wield it most effectively.

Signature Style

Many fighters distinguish themselves from their peers by adopting and perfecting a particular style or method of waging combat. Although this style might be a natural outgrowth of a fighter’s personality, that’s not always the case—someone’s approach to the world in general does not necessarily dictate how that person operates when lives are on the line.

Do you have a combat style that mirrors your outlook on life, or is something else inside you unleashed when weapons are drawn?

Examples:

• Elegant. You move with precise grace and total control, never using more energy than you need.
• Brutal. Your attacks rain down like hammer blows, meant to splinter bone or send blood flying.
• Cunning. You dart in to attack at just the right moment and use small-scale tactics to tilt the odds in your favor.
• Effortless. You rarely perspire or display anything other than a stoic expression in battle.
• Energetic. You sing and laugh during combat as your spirit soars. You are happiest when you have a foe in front of you and a weapon in hand.
• Sinister. You scowl and sneer while fighting, and you enjoy mocking your foes as you defeat them.

Fighters of the Sword Coast

“Slow to learn, aren’t they?” a white-haired old knight who’d lost his helm in the last fray drawled. “This is getting to be like a proper romp in the Dragonjaws, it is! I’ll have to get my minstrel to write a ballad about this…”

“I hope he sings swiftly,” a Purple Dragon armsman growled. “Here they are!”

The howling spilled over the bodies in another rushing tide off flapping leather, slashing swords, and beady goblin eyes. Men planted themselves—no running and leaping now—to hew steadily, like harvesters with scythes and many fields in front of them, in a rhythm of death.

— Troy Denning, Death of the Dragon

Whether doughty warriors, idealistic young soldiers, or hard-bitten mercenaries, fighters are found everywhere in the Forgotten Realms. Even the most peaceful lands have militia for protection against their enemies, and many great rulers in the Realms’ past were fighters of some sort. There are always opportunities for those who know how to handle themselves in a fight.

Able-bodied folk in many parts of the Sword Coast and the North learn at least the rudiments of combat as part of a local militia, serving in times of need, while a few go on to become professional soldiers, guards, or the like. Officers tend to come from the nobility, although there are opportunities for capable leaders to demonstrate their skills and rise through the ranks.

Fighters who don’t make a career of soldiering find other ways to demonstrate their prowess. Mercenaries find employment with those who need skilled warriors but who lack the time or means to train them. Such employers include adventuring companies, which are almost always in need of a reliable fighter.

Merchants and guilds hire guards to protect caravans, ships, and their warehouses and guildhalls. Such work affords the opportunity for frequent travel and danger.

A good deal of danger comes from fighters who abandon legitimate employment to become bandits—raiding caravans, robbing travelers, and pillaging isolated homesteads, manors, and villages. Out-of-luck fighters might also take part in gladiatorial fights or similar blood sports to make a living off their skills, although such matches are virtually unknown on the Sword Coast and in the North, as compared to southern nations like Amn and Calimshan.

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