A high-fantasy adventure with a fighter in it? What is this world coming to?
Something or other & Sorcery
Having a D&D game without a fighter is like cookies without milk. It just isn’t the same, is it? From the beginning, the Fighter has been a steadfast dealer-of-damage, taker-of-shots, and general cornerstone of an adventuring party.
The Paladin, Ranger, Barbarian, and others have been proposed as variations to add flavor or specialized abilities. But when you talk about the game mechanics on them, it always comes down to: “He’s like a fighter, but…”
By the time 2nd Edition AD&D finally up and died (long may it reign) the Fighter had become the redheaded stepchild of the game. Why bother being one when you got all the goodies of Fighterhood at a slight experience penalty when you chose Ranger or Paladin? And Fighters didn’t progress terribly quickly anyway. In the end, a Fighter was just a disease-susceptible Paladin that was only good for soaking damage that might otherwise have dropped the insanely powerful Wizard of the party. He was also a good place for Clerics to practice their healing spells on.
But the THAC0 system is gone, and the Fighter has been reworked. They have feats coming out their ears, they are the sole holders of Weapon Specialization, and from time to time seem to have more options available to them than a Sorcerer in combat. Being now extremely flexible and supremely useful in combat, the Fighter fits well with just about anything.
Brawn
When the Fighter is playing the Cunning part (sometimes this is a good call, depending upon the game world), a Barbarian, Paladin, or Ranger can fit this bill. Normally this is the slot to put the Fighter in.
Cunning
Pair that Fighter with a Rogue. Create flanking situations in melee combat, use Improved Bull Rush to give that nimble fella some extra attacks of opportunity. A Fighter/Rogue combo can be quite devastating in melee when they know how to work together
Divine Magic
Fighters make good backup for Druids, but Clerics make great backup for Fighters. Keep that weapon-swinging engine o doom on his feet, padre!
Arcane Magic
Depending on the pace of the adventure, there may not be time for the scholarly pursuits of a Wizard. However, a Wizard will have faster access to crucial spells such as Dispell Magic which will extend the mileage on your Fighter a great deal. Sorcerers are good in combat, but so are Fighters. Go with the more versatile Wizard.
I play an elf fighter, and I’m pretty happy with him. Got a nice +1 keen bastard sword but everyone sees me as a human shield! “send the fighter around the corner and see what happens”. He’s currently at level 10 and I’ve killed quite a few level 13+ sorcerors’ asses(until they realized they had improved invisability) but I can’t seem to get really good damage. Say I do around 35 damage in a round with fairly good roles… that’s still pretty damn puny against a maximized fireball sent from an invisible sorceror(60dmg)!!! What the heck do you do then? Feats are good and all but… what fighters really need is beefed up damage. I’m lucky enough to get a couple of critical hits in here and there but what about the less lucky guys?
Improved Invisibility is a son-of-a-bitch for fighters, this is true. This is a primary reason for acquiring the Blind-fighting feat if you have a DM that is predisposed to throwing that kind of crud at you.
Proposed tactic: When you feel that your melee fighter is anywhere near an improved-invisibility arcane artillery-peice (Sorcerer, Wizard, it doesn’t really matter), try the following: Instead of taking your normal standard action or full-round attack, take a movement action to near where you think the Sorcerer is. Use your standard action to prepare a “partial charge” upon the spellcaster’s attack.
Once the spellcaster attacks, your fighter knows which 5’x5′ area the spell came from, and can pursue. Move to the spellcaster and grapple, don’t just swing with your sword. If you land a grapple, the Sorcerer will be limited to non-somatic spellcasting, and he is not likely to fare well in a grappling contest (your strength and base attack bonus are both likely to be much better than his). Proceed to break his scrawny little neck, or stab him repeatedly with a backup dagger or short sword.
This tactic is likely to work better than most other conventional Fighter tactics because the sorcerer isn’t going to want to get himself caught in his own fireball, so he is likely to use his move action BEFORE casting (in the cast of a maximized fireball, that’s a full-round action anyway and he’s likely to take his 5′ adjustment first to get some clearance away from his own blast (the closer you get to him to start, the better.
You’ll have a 25% chance of missing the Sorcerer even if your attack is good, but if you hit, the Sorcerer has negligible chances of getting away. Unless your DM is a total jerk, he should reward you for this kind of tactical thinking. If he’s just out to kill your Fighter, no matter what you do you’re going to get dead, though. This is just a way to improve your chances of success.
By introducing a couple of “utility” feats like Blind Fighting and Improved Grapple, mid-level Fighters can fare much better against similarly-leveled spellcasters. I hope that your 13th level Fighter didn’t pursue a rigid weapon-mastery/Power Attack feat progression if your DM likes to throw Improved Invisibility opponents at him.