Is there a Fighter template?

[Black Leviathan]

Originally Posted by Anthony

The only thing about the Knight which is not 'basic fighter' is that it has 10 points in Born War-Leader, as opposed to making that an optional trait.

I actually think that's a pure-strain fighter trait. You should want to follow the experienced war veteran in a fight, even if they're not very charismatic or otherwise very smart.

[ULFGARD]

Originally Posted by Anthony

The only thing about the Knight which is not 'basic fighter' is that it has 10 points in Born War-Leader, as opposed to making that an optional trait.

This is what I have done for a player who wanted a "pure" fighter - make Born War-Leader optional. That was the only "offending" trait for him.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Black Leviathan

I actually think that's a pure-strain fighter trait. You should want to follow the experienced war veteran in a fight, even if they're not very charismatic or otherwise very smart.

I agree!

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The inclusion of Born War-Leader, Leadership, Strategy, and Tactics comes from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. That series was in turn trying to emulate old-school RPGs, and in the earliest RPGs, higher-level fighting men (and a 250-point character qualifies as such) were capable of leading troops. Thus, I decided that the "baseline unspecialized fighter" – which is definitely the knight, to answer this thread's question – would have that capacity. Similarly, the cleric has Clerical Investment, Public Speaking, Religious Ritual, and Teaching to indicate they're an actual member of an organized religion who has to lead services, give sermons, and provide spiritual instruction . . . also as in those early games.

You can strip out these traits to save points: Born War-Leader 2 [10], Leadership [2], Strategy [2], and Tactics [2] can go away to give the knight 16 more points to spend, probably on ST and combat skills. Clerical Investment [5], Public Speaking [1], Religious Ritual [1], Teaching [1] can go away to give the cleric 8 more points to spend, likely to be better at fighting or casting. That wouldn't be wrong, but it would perhaps depart from what the game is trying to emulate.

[Kalzazz]

Biggest 'not fighter' aspect of the modified Knight is lack of option for Heroic Archer, since in D&D I loved playing weapon specialist fighter archers

[zoncxs]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Biggest 'not fighter' aspect of the modified Knight is lack of option for Heroic Archer, since in D&D I loved playing weapon specialist fighter archers

Then you use the Scout template. That is what it is there for. Though you could add that to the knights template, but then that give that one template a lot of coverage, meaning very little reason to pick something else.

[Kromm]

Yeah, Heroic Archer is the keystone special ability of a different profession. That said, you can:

1. Do without HA, and build a knight who likes bows. Pick a two-handed melee weapon skill and Bow, and move the 4 points from Shield into Bow, as the template offers. That's Bow-16. Using 4 points from quirks gives Bow-17. And using advantage points can give +1 to +3 to DX, for Bow at 18-20. Plus you can learn Fast-Draw (any) as part of the template. You'll still be killer with melee weapons.

2. Play a scout! You can still be a really good melee fighter. Just the basics on the template give Broadsword and Shield at 16. Using 4 quirk points can give you 17 in one of these. Optionally, use advantage points for +1 or +2 to DX, to have 17+18 or 18+19. You'll still be scary with a bow.

These templates are really quite versatile.

[Dammann]

For my character points, the scout is the best fighting template there is. The socially misfit part is a bummer, though...

[Phantasm]

I one built a character using DF with the Archer template from DF15: Henchmen and the Veteran lens to bump her to 250. The result was closer to a mercenary archer than a wilderness ranger.

I don't know how much of DF3: The Next Level is in DFRPG, but a Knight with the Knight-Scout lens could also be a viable build for a ranged warrior that is not a wilderness ranger like the typical Scout.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by Dammann

For my character points, the scout is the best fighting template there is. The socially misfit part is a bummer, though...

I agree that the scout is a powerful template. I'm particularly impressed by the pre-gen Emily Elms (a downloadable extra): built for awesome speed, accuracy, and damage with a bow, despite low halfling ST. (Shot to unarmored vitals: 15 to 30 damage, every time!)

She's good at a lot on top of that, too. (Her ST does become a shortcoming in melee, though; she can defend well enough with that shortsword, but will have trouble hurting even lightly armored foes. I'd recommend she switch to the large katar for a little extra punch, and put her high skill to use against armor gaps.)

[Kalzazz]

Archery is to me incredibly feast or famine, a lot of foes are weak to it (indifferent dodge, obvious weak points) and others are mostly immune (good dodge mostly but also DR and lack of weak points)