The fighter is one of the standard playable character classes in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. A fighter is a versatile, weapons-oriented warrior who fights using skill, strategy and tactics. Fighter is a generic and broad class; individual fighters have diverse backgrounds and different styles. Bodyguards, adventurers, former soldiers, invading bandit kings, or master swordsmen are all fighters, yet they come from all walks of life and backgrounds and often find themselves on very different alignments, goals, and sides in a conflict. Publication history Dungeons & Dragons The "Fighting Man" was one of the three classes in the original Dungeons & Dragons game; the other two classes were Magic-User and Cleric. The paladin was introduced in Supplement I - Greyhawk (1975), as a subclass of Fighting Man. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition The fighter was one of the standard character classes available in the original Player's Handbook. The fighter was presented as one of the five core classes in the original Players Handbook. In the 1st edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, fighters were the class best suited for physical combat, balanced by the weakness of not having any other ability. Fighters did not typically greatly benefit from high intelligence, wisdom or charisma ability scores; the character could obtain higher scores in strength, dexterity and constitution, which increased combat ability. High hit points (HP), the ability to equip strong armors, and easily the fastest THAC0 progression also helped them in combat. As an optional and very commonly used rule, fighters could also take Weapon Specialization, which offered further bonuses to hit and damage. In the Players Handbook, the fighter's hit dice improved to a d10. Basic Dungeons & Dragons The fighter was available as a character class in the game's "Basic" edition. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition The fighter, as part of the "warrior" group, was one of the standard character classes available in the second edition Player's Handbook. The second edition Player's Handbook gives several examples of famous fighters from legend: Hercules, Perseus, Hiawatha, Beowulf, Siegfried, Cuchulain, Little John, Tristan, and Sinbad. The book also cites a number of great generals and warriors: El Cid, Hannibal, Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Spartacus, Richard the Lionheart, and Belisarius. The Complete Fighter's Handbook detailed the fighter class, and several subclasses. The book made an attempt to compensate for this class' lack of special abilities. In addition to offering