D&D Playtest 7 Fighter Breakdown: Weapon Mastery, Subclasses, and the Brawler Debate

A battle-hardened Fighter unleashes a surge of arcane-infused strikes, embodying the power and versatility of Playtest 7’s weapon mastery system.

If you’ve ever watched The Lord of the Rings, cheered through Gladiator, or built a frontline bruiser in Baldur’s Gate 3, you understand the timeless appeal of the Fighter—the disciplined warrior who dominates the battlefield through steel, stamina, and sheer repetition. In Playtest 7, Wizards of the Coast revisits this iconic class, introducing new mechanics, subclass updates, and a fresh take on weapon mastery.

Playtest 6 explored the rogue, druid, bard, and monk, introducing significant changes—especially for the druid and monk. While not without flaws, those adjustments were largely beneficial. Wizards of the Coast then released Playtest 7, focusing on the wizard, sorcerer, warlock, barbarian, and fighter. This segment provides a concise summary of the fighter changes, highlights the positives and negatives, and offers perspective on the direction of the class.

This blog post examines the Fighter class, a highly versatile tank capable of excelling with various weapons. Fighters can make up to four attacks—more than any other class—and can use Action Surge and Second Wind to take two actions in a turn while restoring hit points.

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Fighter:

The Fighter remains a master of weapons, adaptable to nearly any armament. Wizards of the Coast has expanded their arsenal with new weapon enhancements such as “Cleave,” which allows a Fighter to strike an adjacent target when attacking. Additional features include “Tactical Shift” and “Tactical Mind.” Tactical Mind allows Fighters to add a D10 to an ability check using Second Wind, and a failure does not expend the resource. Tactical Shift enables movement equal to half their speed when using Second Wind. At level 9, “Master of Armaments” allows Fighters to reconfigure their weapon options. “Studied Attack” grants advantage on the next attack roll after missing a strike.

The document includes several Fighter subclasses: Eldritch Knight, Champion, and Battle Master, along with a new addition—the Brawler, focused on unarmed combat. Most subclasses remain largely unchanged, though some adjustments were made. For example, the Champion gains advantage on initiative and Strength rolls.

The Brawler centers on unarmed strikes and improvised weapons. Unarmed strikes deal D6 damage, increasing to D8 when taking the Attack action, and eventually reaching D10 at higher levels. The Brawler also gains mastery with improvised weapons, dealing D12 damage on a successful hit.

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Positives:

The expanded customization options—such as applying Cleave to different weapons—add flexibility beyond basic weapon selection. This encourages adaptability across combat scenarios. Second Wind, now usable four times, stands out. At level 20, a Fighter can regain 20 + 1D10 (average 5) hit points per use, averaging 25 per activation and 100 total across four uses. This increases durability, reduces reliance on healers, and strengthens the Fighter’s tanking role.

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Negatives:

The range of available options feels limited. A broader selection would improve variety, and some existing choices feel overly specific. For example, Cleave requires both creatures to be adjacent to each other. A more flexible condition—such as requiring creatures to be near you—would increase utility. If the goal is to create Fighters with six distinct options, expanding the pool would support that design.

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My Opinion:

Wizards of the Coast is clearly shifting the Fighter toward a more option-driven design. However, the current weapon options feel polarized—some are strong, others less effective—leading players to favor the most powerful selections. While the increased weapon-specific customization is appreciated, there is room to expand and balance these choices.

The subclass changes are generally promising, but the Brawler feels underdeveloped. It resembles a simplified monk without the monk’s defining abilities. Compared to a longsword user dealing 1D8 damage with a shield, the Brawler lacks comparable versatility. It also does not have the bonus action attack that monks possess. The improvised weapon feature further limits practicality by encouraging makeshift weapons over standard ones.

To strengthen the Brawler, it would benefit from additional bonus action options and enhanced grappling capabilities while maintaining mobility. For example, the ability to grapple two creatures simultaneously would reinforce its identity. While moving at half speed when using Second Wind is a positive step, the overall subclass concept would benefit from further refinement.