The Fighter is a common archetyal character class in numerous role-playing games whose speciaties lie in physical combat.

Fighters in Dungeons & Dragons

In Dungeons & Dragons and many D&D-derived games, the fighter is a versatile, weapons-oriented warrior class. The fighter is a skilled warrior who fights using skill, strategy and tactics. Similar character classes are the paladin, ranger, barbarian and cavalier.

Fighter was one of the seven classes in the original D&D game, then called "Fighting Man" (the other six were Magic User, Thief, Cleric, Dwarf, Elf and Halfling). In the anime Record of Lodoss War (Lodoss to Senki), the character Parn is a Fighter who later becomes a Paladin.

In the 3rd edition of the D&D game, Fighters get bonus Feats at every even-numbered level, giving a 20th level fighter more feats than any other character class of equivalent levels.

Unlike many of the other classes in D&D, it is almost always incorrect for a player to refer to their own character (in game) as a fighter. Since the class covers a huge variety of profesions, from knights to bandits, in the game world nobody is actually known as a "fighter".

Fighters in Final Fantasy

The Fighter (Japanese: せんし) is a character class (or "job") featured in Square Enix's Final Fantasy series of computer role-playing games. It is closely associated with the Knight (ナイト) class: in some games, the Knight is an upgraded form fo the Fighter job, while in other games, the two classes are synonymous.

The Fighter/Knight is portrayed as a skilled swordsman who can make use of some of the most powerful heavy armors and weaponry in the game. As such, it is a well-rounded physical combatant with both high attack and defense statistics. In some games, the Knight is able to learn basic white magic, but since it typically has a low magic rating and an extremely limited repetoire of spells, its capabilities in this field are somewhat limited. Because of its reliance on heavy plate armor and broadswords, the cost of managing the Fighter's equipment typically makes it among the most expensive classes in the series. But its sheer attack power nevertheless makes it an almost essential addition to any team.

The Fighter and/or Knight has appeared in the following games in the Final Fantasy series:

• Final Fantasy I (Fighter and Knight)
• Final Fantasy III (Fighter and Knight)
• Final Fantasy V (Knight only)
• Final Fantasy X-2
• Final Fantasy Tactics (Knight only)
• Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

The Fighter can be reasonably described as one of the most basic character archetypes in the Final Fantasy series. As a result, there are numerous characters who have appeared throughout the history of the franchise that can be considered roughly analagous to the Fighter. Some of these characters include Cecil Harvey (Final Fantasy IV), Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII), Squall Leonhart (Final Fantasy VIII) and Adelbert Steiner (Final Fantasy IX).