WARRIOR-FIGHTER Class

Description:  Fighters are the quintessential warriors, masters of personal 
combat in all forms.  Their primary function is combat, and many Fighters are 
simple, square, solid warriors who are ready, willing, and able to do the hard 
physical work in a fight.  That stated, Fighters run the entire range of 
imaginable character types, from simple peasant soldiers to enslaved gladiators 
and from grizzled mercenary veterans to seafaring marines.  Many adventuring 
Fighters are recently discharged from the military forces of their country or 
from a mercenary battalion, choosing to take their martial skill and attempt to 
make their fortune.  Others may be brash youths, merry and light-hearted show-
offs, dangerous and sinister battle leaders, or simply muscle-bound crushers out 
to intimidate and battle their way to fame (or infamy).  Though Fighters may 
make alliances of convenience or for reasons or motivations of their own, but as 
a rule they are hardy and self-sufficient and are free to follow any path they 
choose and follow the true calling of their heart, from noble and pure to the 
depths of darkness.

Requirements:  Fighters use the Fighter advancement table and use ten-sided hit 
dice.  They use the warrior THAC0 and saving throw tables and have the standard 
multiple attack progression of warriors.  Fighters begin with 4 weapon and 3 
non-weapon proficiency slots and gain new slots in each every 3 levels.  
Fighters can be of any alignment and of any race.  A Fighter must have Strength 
of at least 9 and Constitution of at least 7.

Weapons & Armor:  A Fighter can wear any armor and use any type of shield or 
weapon desired.

Special Benefits:  A Fighter is able to gain proficiency and/or specialization 
in weapons, shields, and a variety of special combat techniques, as described 
below:

Attacks of Opportunity:  Unlike other character classes, who are entitled to 
only one 'free attack' against foes closing for unarmed combat, enemies fleeing 
from combat, and so on, a Fighter is entitled to make a number of Attacks of 
Opportunity in a given combat round equal to twice his or her normal allotment 
of attacks per round.  A Fighter still cannot take more than one Attack of 
Opportunity against a particular opponent each round.

Continuous Conditioning:  The intensive and rigorous training and exercise 
regimen of Fighters allows them to improve not only their fighting skills but 
also their physical capabilities.  When a Fighter begins his or her career, the 
character gains percentile rolls for his or her Strength, Dexterity, and 
Constitution scores.  At each level thereafter, the Fighter should roll 2d10 for 
each score and add that to the percentile score.  When a percentile score 
reaches 100, the Fighter has gained a full point in that ability score and the 
percentile begins to accumulate again.  For example, a Fighter begins with a 16 
Dexterity and rolls 88 for his percentile.  Upon attaining 2nd level, he or she 
rolls 2d10 for Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution and adds this number to 
each percentile.  The roll for Dexterity is 14; added to 88 this makes 102, so 
the Dexterity score increases from 16/88 to 17/02.  Other than certain special 
situations (DM's discretion), these percentile scores do not provide any added 
bonus over the base ability score until a full point has been added.

Heroic Fray:  When battling against much weaker opponents who are attacking the 
Fighter and his or her cohorts in large numbers, a Fighter has the ability to 
make double his or her normal allotment of attacks.  In order to engage in a 
Heroic Fray, the Fighter's side must be outnumbered at least 2 to 1 or else the 
Fighter him- or herself must be outnumbered in personal combat at least 3 to 1.  
In addition, the Fighter's enemies must be at least ten hit dice (ignoring 
pluses) or levels below his or her own level or must have fewer than one hit 
die.  Thus, a Fighter of any level can engage in a Heroic Fray against kobolds 
or giant rats, while a 13th level Fighter could engage in a Heroic Fray against 
gnolls, bugbears, wolves, or even human fighters of up to 3rd level.

Specialization:  Fighters are masters of weapons of all types and can become 
proficient or specialized in as many weapons as they desire throughout their 
career, subject to the limit of weapon proficiency slots they possess.  A 
Fighter can begin play with Skilled Specialization in any one weapon, but if 
they do so they cannot begin with proficiency in any other weapon.  A Fighter 
can also 'save' proficiency slots for later use.  A Fighter can train for weapon 
proficiency or specialization no more than once per experience level.  Fighters 
may also spend slots on Fencing, Punching, Shield, or Wrestling proficiency or 
specialization.  They may improve their level of specialization or gain 
proficiency or specialization in other weapons at any time after the character 
is created that the character has sufficient time and money to invest in 
training.

Note that in addition to the normal benefits for Specialization, a Fighter whose 
'effective level' (i.e., experience level plus level of specialization) exceeds 
20 is able to attack three times per round rather than the usual two attack per 
round maximum.  As usual, this bonus attack applies only with a primary weapon; 
a weapon wielded in the off-hand can never be used for more than one attack per 
round.

Stronghold:  Any Fighter who reaches 9th level becomes, in effect, a 'Lord' as a 
result of their reputation for skill and bravery in combat.  A Fighter of this 
level can petition a ruler for a land grant, which will always be granted 
(assuming alignments are compatible or the ruler has some interest in retaining 
the fighter as a vassal).  Most often, this is a charter to establish a minor 
domain in a borderland region of the ruler's lands or to clear and settle an 
area of wilderness and thereby extend his or her liege's influence.  A Fighter 
can, of course, simply hack out his or her own piece of territory in the 
wilderness, but doing so without first contacting nearby established rulers may 
bring the would-be Lord into contact with others.  It may also lead them to 
question the legitimacy of the Fighter's lordship.

In any event, if a Fighter Lord builds a stronghold (whether or not he or she 
officially establishes a domain in the surrounding lands), he or she will 
automatically attract a retinue of followers, as described in the Player's 
Handbook.  In addition, the Fighter gains an additional 10 follower men-at-arms 
with a commanding 1st level sergeant for each level that he or she gains 
thereafter.  If the Fighter Lord's followers have been involved in any sort of 
military action during the previous level, this is increased to 1d4 x 10 new 
followers.  These troops will usually be drawn from the "Troops/Followers" 
table, but there is a 5% chance per level over 9th that they will instead be 
drawn from the "Elite Units" table.  Each time that such additional followers 
come into the Fighter's service, there is also a 5% chance per 10 troops gained 
that they will be accompanied by a captain from the "Leader" table.  These 
additional troops are treated exactly as followers already gained, in terms of 
loyalty, morale, starting equipment, and the like.

Style Specialization:  Fighters often learn to fight with a variety of different 
weapons and in a variety of special fighting styles.  Any Fighter can choose to 
learn one or more of the following Style Specializations at a cost of one 
proficiency slot each (note that these can be learned using weapon or non-weapon 
slots).  A Style Specialization is not a generic benefit--it must be learned for 
use with a specific weapon or combination of weapons, and the benefits apply 
only when using that weapon or combination (e.g., spear and body shield, two-
handed sword, shortsword and buckler, rapier and main-gauche, paired hand axes).  
Mounted Style Specialization must be selected with a specific weapon and a 
specific type of mount (or a type of chariot or similar conveyance).  The 
possible choices and their effects are described below:

Brawling:  Make a free Punching attack in addition to normal melee attacks 
(often with a shield or the hilt or haft of a weapon being used, although a fist 
can of course be used), without the normal penalty for making a weaponless 
attack in melee.

Missile Weapon:  Move on foot at half speed and still fire full normal number of 
missiles or move at full speed and fire half normal number of missiles without 
penalty.

Mounted Archery:  As the Missile Weapon Style Specialization, but while the 
fighter is mounted on a particular type of animal rather than afoot.
Mounted Catch & Drag:  Attack with a flexible weapon while astride a chosen 
mount.  If hit, inflict half damage but catch/entangle opponent and attempt to 
drag behind mount for 1d4 points of damage per round (2 Strength checks to get 
free).  If target smaller than mount, dragging is automatic.  If twice the size 
of mount, dragging is impossible.  If same size up to twice size, save vs. 
petrification to avoid being dragged.

Mounted Charge:  Make an impaling attack astride a chosen mount with any 
thrusting weapon (note:  all lances can be used in this way without Style 
Specialization) for double damage (Strength bonus not included) on a successful 
hit; however, there is a 1 in 6 chance the weapon will break and a 2 in 6 chance 
the weapon will get stuck in the opponent and must be let go or else a round 
spent to recover it.

Mounted Sweep:  Move at full normal mounted speed astride a chosen mount and 
make one normal attack with any one-handed weapon in same round.  The mount and 
rider both gain +1 AC bonus vs. opponents on foot.

One-handed Weapon:  +2 bonus to frontal AC vs. melee attacks, but no bonus vs. 
missile attacks; cannot be used with a weapon or shield in the off-hand. 

Two-handed Weapon:  -3 bonus to speed factor with a two-handed weapon.

Two-weapon:  May use two equal-sized weapons simultaneously; if wearing studded 
leather or lighter armor (or elven chain) can fight with two weapons with no 
penalty (though each suffers a -1 penalty to hit if different actions are 
performed--e.g., one attack and one Block or Disarm).

Weapon & Shield:  +1 bonus to frontal AC vs. all attacks.

Special Hindrances:  None.

Required Proficiencies:  none
Preferred Proficiencies:  all Warrior proficiencies