[Aerich]

I have. It works ok on Normal and hard difficulty, but Insane (monsters do 2x damage and seem to hit more often) is a bit rough. Saves are good but HP are a bit low. Just about any character can have a good AC if you pump them with items, so you aren't doing too badly there.

The two downsides of a F/T tank are:
1) HP, because you split between 2 classes, 1 of which is the thief class (unless you go medium-high lvl dual at fighter lvl 9 or higher)
2) No spellcasting

#1 means that your F/T is slightly less durable than the standard paladin, and #2 means that the F/T is less versatile and has less self-buffs, thus less survivability, than any other mc or dc combo.

All of the above does not mean that you cannot use a F/T as a leader. It's comparable to using a single-class fighter without going over ** in any weapon. It's not ideal, but it works. Evasion is a handy ability in a tank, but it's not so handy that I'd want to use a F/T as a full-time leader - it'd be fine as a temporary first attacker against spellcasters, especially with speed boots and a dagger.

One last point; to my mind, the reason not to use a F/T as a tank is not because it can't work, but because it does not play to the strengths of the class, or at least does not do so easily. A tank is, by definition, usually the first targeted and most often targeted of your party members. That means it has to stay still so that pursuing monsters don't target other party members and force your party to break formation. That does not suit the F/T well, because sneak attack can only be used once per combat per monster, and cannot be used when the monster is targeting the F/T. On the plus side, a F/T with Evasion is ideal against spellcasters so long as they do not cast no-save spells like Magic Missile.

If I use a melee-focused F/T, I generally use it in the second row in a third-into-the-fight role. That way, it can buzz around between targets maximizing the damage it causes with sneak attack without breaking the defensive line (as most enemies will have targeted the two tanks before the F/T jumps into melee).

[ 10-19-2006, 02:41 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]