RPGs: Building a Better Fighter

Role playing games are a diverse bunch. That's a gross understatement. Role playing games are an extremely diverse bunch. They cover every genre imaginable and several you don't even know about. I write a blog about table top games, and I can't name half the rpgs on the market. But through every game I've ever played, every rule set I've read, every campaign setting I've visited, there has been one constant. There were fighters. Rough men who's job it was to hurt people. They brought to the table two things: a weapon and the will to use it.

It seems like this would get boring, tired out, formulaic. For some gamers, it does. They can't figure out why, when you can play wizard evoking blasts of sering fire, or a warlock conjuring demons from the seventh circle of Hell and binding them to your will, or a silent spy slipping through infinitesimal holes in security, why anyone would play a character that's just good at hitting things. I say those schmucks don't have any imagination.

The martial heritage of the world is one of the richest and most interwoven pieces of history available. Within it we find tools perfectly engineered to deal with problems. And not just any problems, like how to have hot coffee when you get out of bed in the morning. No, I mean real problems, like how to prevent X guy from placing Y object into Z vital organ, where X is rather determined, Y is sharp and rusty, and Z is squishy and belongs to you. There's got to be some interesting character fodder in there somewhere, right? You bet your shiny, handcrafted hematite d6 there is.

The trick to making a memorable fighter is style. In that regard it's not that different from any other character archetype. It's just more important with fighters.

So the first thing you need to do is choose a weapon. Sword, spear, crossbow, fist, shotgun, whatever. So long as it fits the campaign and you can hurt people with it, it's good. Then, you make the character very good with that weapon, because you'll be using it a lot.

Now decide how your character fights. Does she slam into a room with a blood-curdling roar, splintering the door and tossing aside enemies like rag dolls? Does he strike from the shadows, surgically destroying the enemies ability to counter attack and then disappearing once more into inky blackness? Does she harry here opponents, peppering them with a constant volley of missiles while staying just out of reach? Whatever you decide, make sure the style fits the weapon you chose. Claymores do not make good ambush weapons, nor does a sniper rifle do you much good while breaching a room.

Now it's time to add some character. You're not just some soldier guy, you're an ex-Spetsnaz GRU operative trying to put your life back together after a medical discharge. You're not just some guy with a big sword, you're the last student of Albrecht Hrendel, master swordsman and latest teacher of the tradition of Joachim Ringeck, greatest swordsman ever to descend from the mountains of Swabia. You're sidearm isn't just a gun, it's a Government Model .45 with a doublestack magazine and tritium night sights.

It's all about how you look at something. So next time you make a character, don't settle for making a fighter. Make a character worthy of the adventure your GM gives you. On second thought, make him better.