The Middle-Aged DM

In his recent article “Make D&D Better, Remove Fighters From the Game” Buxtehude took a massive dump on the 4th edition defender, and in particular Fighters, and to some extent those who make and play them. The gist of his diatribe was that the gimmicked-up/twinked-out fighters, which he calls “Conscore McSwordy”, can wreck the fun of the game by grinding down the fluidity of combat movement and fast passed action through their marking mechanics, rock like defenses and durability, low damage output, and tendency to be poorly role-played if even role-played at all. The response to this article has been slightly amusing, and poor Buxtehude has taken some heat from commenters essentially calling him an idiot, a bad DM, and then flaming the website for putting up such rubbish. I can assure you he is neither and idiot nor a bad DM nor was the article rubbish, although this does sort of shed some light on why the lovable Drax (my Dragonborn Paladin) from the first season of D&D encounters usually ended up unconscious and making death saves by the end of the first round.

While I of course disagree with his opinion, I do agree with a lot of the points he does make, as I have been his “Conscore McSwordy” in games as well as had my DM nads skewered by a “McSwordy”. All I can say is “don’t hate the playa, hate the game” son. One can make these kinds of arguments with almost any well built character of a certain role. D&D is a system that somewhat encourages and rewards well built characters these days, and these issues are a natural consequence of moving to a system where character classes and their abilities have been crafted to function in clearly defined roles. For example nothing neuters the threat of an encounter the way a well built or optimized healing cleric can. Alternatively, I have played in games where as “Conscore McSwordy” I couldn’t even make it to an enemy to lock it down before it was killed by a supremely twinked up ranger. As for his lack of role-playing gripes, I feel this is really player and game dependant rather than something to be heaped upon the fighter and those who love and play them.

In the end, D&D has always been a game that supports a wide range of play styles (even in these more tactical wargamey times), and problems can arise when styles clash, which underlies the importance in gaming with like-minded people who have a similar vision and play style, or at least close enough on the continuum to not drive someone nuts. If you haven’t already you should check out Buxtehude’s campaign and other musings at his base of operation in The Shattered Sea, where you will find that he knows his stuff and is a good DM. In the future if you sit down at the table to run a game and you look up and lock eyes with one of us “McSwordy’s”, remember artillery targeting reflex/will and monsters with auras if you want to try and teach us a little humility….”try” being the optimal word.

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I have often written in the past about my typical default character in 4^th edition (when I actually get to play) is either a defender or a leader given that there is rarely a shortage of strikers at the game table. This is understandable as the strikers have become the glitterati of the D&D world, where massive damage and eviscerating enemies in one shot has driven the rogue and ranger to Brangelina status. That’s fine; let them have their sparkling mountains of damage dice. If the strikers are the glitterati, then the defenders are the everyman, and as John Lennon once sang “a working class hero is something to be”. I thought I would make this post about how I embrace the defender role, so “if you want to be a hero, well just follow me”.

The mindset I have gotten into when I create and play a defender is that I will be the rock that my enemies break themselves against. For this I favor the straight up sword and board fighter. As for race, I have dabbled with a few, but have settled on the Dwarf for a few reasons. Firstly, there are few things as iconic and rock like as a Dwarven fighter, and secondly being able to use your second wind as a minor action is sublime for a guy that is planning on getting kicked in the nads a lot. Oh and being able to resist a square of forced movement is uber rock like as well.  When I craft the rock I take a three prong approach of jacked up defenses, self-healing (let the leaders save their healing for the squishy prima donna strikers), and punishing those that disobey my mark. There is nothing like seeing the look of frustration bordering on madness in the DM’s eyes when he can’t hit me, and he has to try cause god knows I’ve marked just about everyone I can see; and if he does hit me he can’t drop me because I soak up the damage like a sponge; and then he can’t move his bad guys around the field like he wants to because they are stuck to me like glue. That look of madness in his eyes makes me as giddy as a school girl.

My current defender incarnation is Markus Laggerbelly, a Craghammer wielding Dwarven fighter. I play him as a sarcastic and wise-cracking (it’s funny how art imitates life 😉 ) nut job that launches himself maniacally into the fray with reckless abandon. He constantly taunts the enemies to come get a taste. His response to getting pummeled is a lot of 3 Stooges dialogue. For me, in 4^th edition, I think the key to playing a defender is embracing the masochism.

How about you guys, how do you play the working class hero?

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