Fighter
The Fighter is one of the basic classes in almost every RPG system ever made.
Class role
The fighter's primary role is serving as a meat shield and smashing (slicing, piercing, whatever) things both inanimate, living and undead (as well as any others you can possibly think of). Fighters are also traditionally good at physical activities like jumping, riding animals, balancing and drowning under the weight of their own armor.
Notes
Fighter was for some unknown reason considered seriously underpowered in D&D 3.5, up to the point of people saying "yeah, sure, you can join; we could use a fighter, just don't use any splatbooks." This was a polite way of refusing a request upon joining the party.
