The striker is one of the core styles in the game. It is the easiest style to succeed with and run. Design is important and while I am sure there are managers with a more refined set of strategies than I have, I have more than enough experience with them to give a set of basics to get anyone started. So perhaps this should be considered a beginner & intermediate guide to the style.
The first thing to note is that strikers are pure offensives. I would not recommend trying to do anything else with them. I'm sure there HAVE been successful 'tank' strikers (lots of str, con, wil) and I've seen 'dodgy' strikers that dodge as well as lungers. But I consider these the exceptions. I don't recommend messing with anything but the pure offensive version. This is what they were made to do. And with the right set of stats and physicals, you can wind them up and let them go and they become quite pretty to your win/loss record.
First I will describe what I look for and recommend in physicals. Endurance and damage are the only two items that matter. My 'minimums' are Normal Endurance/ Normal Damage, Poor Endurance/Good Damage, and Very Little Endurance/Great Damage. I don't run anything below those levels any more (and sometimes not even the ones that roll up with those levels). I (and others) have succeeded with less, but I stand by my recommendations. There are managers whose standards are higher than mine, also.
Next are skills & stats. Note that the only skills that 'really' matter for a pure offensive are attack, initiative, and decisiveness. The other skills don't hurt you, but don't design or really care about them. For decise, I recommend staying in the 8+ range. 10+ is a lot better, but I'd be willing to go down to 8 on a striker. (That translates to something like 15 wit/9 will/10 speed as a bare minimum.) Attack is trickier. I've seen too much variation in strikers to give a 'minimum' value. 6+ is a guideline, but more is way better. The tricky part is how many good strikers I've seen that started with less (even far less). I wouldn't worry as much about attack, but realize that it is a core stat. I (and most other managers) don't design around initiative. Following good practices on the rest of the stats should be fine.
For stats, I recommend the following minimums:
STR: 9 (Add points here, especially for low size strikers) CON: any SIZ: any WIT: 11 (Add lots of points here if you can) WIL: 9 (breakpoints at 9, 15, 17, and 21) SPD: DFT: 11 (11 is perfect)Feel free to experiment with one of the numbers lower than my minimums. 3 str Dagger strikers work fine. The minimums work well though. They give a weapon, physical, and skill configuration that is nice. (SS/SC available, breakpoints on attack skills). While I say 'any' for CON & SIZ, I'd prefer con on the low side. I want my points going to skills or damage first.
Weapons: For speed, SS, HA, and QS are the typical choices. For damage, SC, BS, and BA. LO is another core weapon with great all around strengths.
Armor: ALE/L max! Ok, you can go higher. But why?!? You're trying to win as a pure offensive. N/N if you don't care about death. ALE/L if you do. That is my motto on pure offensives.
Strategy: 10-10-x (modify with tactics as desired). Feel free to experiment in later minutes and desperation. I do recommend lowering numbers as the fight progresses, but you're going to win or lose in 1 minute anyways, so it doesn't matter (much/usually).
Examples: These are strikers that I've currently got ready to prep for their next tournament or I'm running right now. I mostly only run strikers in tourneys, so my strikers tend to look similar. The Consortium runs lots of strikers here in DM 93 and I'll point you to his design articles for strikers that don't have 21 wit.
21-4-7-21-9-11-11 9-9-16-21-10-8-11 9-3-16-17-17-9-13 17-5-10-21-10-10-11 11-13-5-21-9-14-11 15-3-11-21-9-14-11 17-4-10-21-9-10-13 9-9-12-21-10-12-11Advantages/Strengths: Strikers learn decise & attack, can use all the good weapons, and conserve endurance. What is not to love?!? Can run very well on a single strategy and can beat every style. Lots of design flexibility.
Disadvantages: They cannot be bonused in attack and they can use all the weapons (meaning your favorite is probably a bad/mediocre weapon). They are a low attack style. They do not have much flexibility in ways to run/win and so some consider them less fun.
Best Matchups: Bashers, Slashers, Parry Lungers, and Aimed Blows.
Worst Matchups: Parry Ripostes and Wall of Steels.