NobodysHome wrote:
I'm playing my first, and almost certainly my last, fighter.
Fighters are awesome because you get 21 feats and can plan your entire build focus around a fighting style, and be fantastic at it.
Fighters are horrifically boring because once you've chosen those feats (probably on character creation), there's no room to 'grow'. Even my two-hander barbarian is more interesting and more fun to play than my two-hander fighter, because the barbarian's rage powers seem far more interesting and versatile than the limited ladder of combat feats my fighter has to stick with to achieve similar levels of damage. At every level I feel like I'm adjusting my barbarian's rages to match what we're facing, while the fighter just 'follows the straight and true path' of the original feats I chose.
I like characters that grow, develop, and change over time. I find that with a fighter you plan the whole thing out during creation, and rarely (if ever) have a need to adjust on the fly. In other words, I am not Hannibal, and I don't love it when a plan comes together. (And yes, I'm old enough to have watched the original, yet young enough to have enjoyed it.)
I would say that any character, fighter or otherwise, that you plan out in its entirety at character creation, would wind up boring. I've tried it before. I've pre-planned fighters, sorcerers, monks, druids, and one bard (that I ended up never playing) from creation all the way to 20. I end up hating myself because I've now pigeon-holed myself into a very linear and specific progression. What you are describing, is completely self-inflicted and not the fault of the class itself.
That being said, I'm not saying you are doing it wrong or anything like that. Some people prefer to set their progression up in advance. Maybe they like to know what's coming. Maybe they are planning things out based on a theme. Maybe they're just OCD. Doesn't matter, that's the way they play, and there's nothing wrong with that. I am absolutely NOT trying to disparage anyone's play style.
I just happen to think that what you're complaining about with fighters, is in no way exclusive to them. Any class planned out 10, 15 or even 20 levels in advance is going to feel a little predictable and boring because you already know what's coming and the mystery is gone.
For my own opinion, I love fighters. Fighters are the quintessential fantasy character. Fighters are a classic staple of the genre. I love the idea of the mighty warrior, his heavy plate armor gleaming in the sun, his mighty shield on his arm, likely emblazoned with a symbol of some importance, swinging his sword to cleave the enemy in half with a single blow. The imagery, the style, the very idea of it is part and parcel to all things fantasy, and fantasy would not be the came without them. I love fighters because I can look beyond the numbers. I can ignore the stat-crunching and the pre-planning and the linear thinking and play the fighter for the flavor. I can play them for the image and what they represent. I can play them for the story and the glory. I can see them for what they, at their core, will always be.
The true heart of fantasy.
Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your day.
