Another idea for the fighter

 Just a quick post about another idea I had for the fighter class, to give it a little more, well, "fight." This would probably be best used to replace the so-called "mook rule" (one attack per level vs. opponents less than one full HD) or "cleave"/"sweep" (make an extra attack when an attack kills the target.)

In a nutshell, a fighter may make a single attack vs. a single target, per the rules as written, OR may make attacks against multiple targets, reducing the damage die used by one step for each additional target, to a minimum of d4.

So, if a fighter using a d6 weapon is beset by a mob of kobolds, he could either make his usual single attack, dealing 1d6 points of damage if successful, or he could attack two different kobolds, making a separate attack roll for each and dealing 1d4 points of damage on each successful attack. If the fighter is using a d10 weapon, he could make attack a single target for 1d10 damage, two targets for 1d8 each, three targets for 1d6 each, or four targets for 1d4 each. 

Intuitively, this seems like an interesting choice with a good tradeoff (attack more targets vs. reduced damage potential per target). The multiple target option would be most effective against low-hp, poor-AC opponents. Against larger, tougher opponents, a single attack would be a better choice. But... what do you do if your fighter is attacked simultaneously by an ogre and three goblins? Try to take out all three goblins in one fell swoop, or try to take down the ogre first?

This would pair nicely with increasing fighters' damage dice with level gains; with each step up in a fighter's damage dice, his effectiveness is increased against both tough opponents (straight up more damage on a successful attack) and mobs of low-hp opponents (able to attack more opponents before bottoming out at the d4 minimum.) It also gives some interesting utility to big, heavy, two-handed weapons vs. a one-handed weapon and shield combo: you can lay into two additional opponents with a d10 two-handed sword compared to a d6 mace or spear.

You could easily scale the number of possible additional targets with the fighter's level, but I don't think there's anything at all game-breaking about applying it full-strength from level 1, either. 

As usual, if you have any thoughts, please feel free to weigh in in the comments!

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