D&D: Five Quick Ways to Shut Down a Fighter
Facing a Fighter? Don’t worry. They tend to be more meat than shield. We’ve got you covered, here’s how to shut down a Fighter in D&D.
Fighters can be intimidating opponents at first glance. They’re big, beefy, and covered in metal armor. Often they’re wielding greatswords or polearms. And when they’re enemies, Fighter types usually have multiattack and more hit points per hit dice than most other monsters.
As the old D&D adage goes, “kill the mage first.” It’s a Fighter’s job to try and keep you from doing that. So if you want to kill the mage first, here’s how you can shut down the Fighter standing in your way.
Move Out of Range
One of the limitations that most Fighter-type NPCs have is that they can really only stand in your way at short distances. Sure, the odd Fighter might have a ranged attack option as well. But often that’s just throwing the spear they were holding.
Or at higher levels, loading up a crossbow to do less damage. One of the best things you can do to shut them down is to stay out of their range. After all, they can’t hit you if they can’t get to you. Mobility spells like Longstrider and Haste can keep you out of their reach, while also giving you enough movement speed to hit and run them into the ground.
Crowd Control
Another good way to deal with a Fighter is to fall back on MMO terminology and look at your “crowd control” options. Spells like Hold Person or Banish or Polymorph or even Tasha’s Hideous Laughter can quickly remove a Fighter from the fight. You may only get a round or two of them incapacitated, but most Fighters aren’t the hardiest when it comes to making the saves that Hold Person or THL target. So you might have longer than you think.
Make sure you’re ready to capitalize on the opening so you can get to the mage they were protected before they get back up.
Disarm Them
Take away a Fighter’s weapons, and there’s not much they can do. Sure it’s not as effective as instantly paralyzing them, but if you don’t have access to that, consider using the Disarm rules, which are found in the least-read D&D book, the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
The way it works is, you make an attack roll contested by the target’s Athletics or Acrobatics check, and if you win, the attack causes no damage, but the defender drops the item. Then all you need is an action to grab the weapon — have a party member with mobility swoop in and grab it, or use Mage Hand to telekinetically take the weapon out of the Fighter’s reach, and you’ve shut them down.
Move Them Out of Reach
Fighters tend to lack the mobility options that other classes have. They don’t get increased speed like Barbarians, and can’t use bonus actions to dash as Monks and Rogues can. They’re just sort of on their own and have to hope a 30 ft. move is enough.
So use that lack of reach against them in a more proactive way. Reposition the fighter—though teleport spells that work on enemies are few, they are out there. And you can often take an opponent out of the fight by just moving far enough away (only make sure you’ve got a quick way back, otherwise you’re not doing yourself any favors).
But even spells like Levitate or Telekinesis can work, since they take the Fighter off of the ground and hold them in place, or at least prevent them from reaching most opponents.
Wall Off
Since Fighters lack any kind of magical ability (with rare exceptions), magic is especially effective at shutting them down. And magic wall spells are probably the easiest way. Just trap a Fighter in a dome of ice, a cube of force, or some other magical impediment that they have no means of dealing with and you’ve got ’em out of the fight so you can kill the actual threat, the mage.
Then you can go back and kill the Fighter at your leisure later
