I am currently Playing a Human Fighter in Jade Regent who specializes in combat maneuvers. So far she has been fine in most encounters, but we are only at the beginning of the third book so I can't be certain how she'll fair in the higher levels. I will say having some sort of ranged backup weapon is a good idea, there were a few fights with flying stuff that proved rather difficult. Also because I was a fighter I was able to invest in a tower shield which helped greatly against archers. She would creep up on their position and then drop the shield before grabbing them.
