So, some time ago I made a topic "Fighter or Samurai", asking for advice on what class to put in my party, but I need some more advice.

I want a character in the party who specializes in area of effect physical attacks, and who is a physical attacker, not a spellcaster. So, I have a couple questions:
* What class should this character be?
* What type of weapon should this character specialize in?

Again, this question is asked without the context of any specific game, though it might be reasonable to assume something liike medieval fantasy (in other words, no modern weapons; as fun as it might be to use a Bazooka as an AoE weapon, I don't want this character to do so).

So, what would you suggest?

Working and broom.

Last time I checked, the only class that could equip brooms wat the Witch, which is more of a spellcasting class.

Well, maybe there's also the Maid, but that's, again, more of a spellcaster.

Janitor!

In some games, ranged physical attackers have AoE abilities. Bow-using characters, for instance) can fire multiple arrows at once or in rapid succession. In Dragon Quest, boomerangs hit multiple targets, provided the character can use them.

For melee AoE, it's usually for characters who wield larger weapons like longswords, halberds, and spears. Usually, they use a big sweeping motion, to hit multiple targets; an example is the Varl Warriors (and their advanced variations) in Banner Saga.

Depends on the setting/feel you're going for. You could have a spinning axeman, a whirling dual-wielding scimitar person, a flowing spearwielder (or other pole arm; my favorite appearance of this being Hilda from Soul Calibur). Those are all melee.

You could be a demolitionist-type that uses explosives/grenades (alchemical bomb; grenades predate firearms generally) that are physical damage in AOE at short range. Or rapid archer as someone mentioned.

Of course, to bring back a previous thread... there's also the cavalier that charges through multiple and tramples. :)

The weapon would be lance, or, if you want to get really silly like some games do that have "books" or "lanterns" or "bells" as weapons, "horse" could be the weapon.

EDIT: Or, there's martial artist. Monks are often shown in some games as "melee but many little attacks, sometimes against multiple foes". (https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Crystal_Defenders_jobs#White_Monk)

EDIT2: A stealthy rogue character (or assassin/ninja) could have a "go super fast and strike everyone in the area once then return to center spot" type power.

Warriors specializing in long-reach weapons like axes, zweihanders, staves, lances, etc. with a combination of multiple slashes, multiple weapons, or spinning techniques.

Warriors specializing in throwable weapons; throw a bunch of them at the same time. Can be chefs, masons, shoemakers, roofers, thieves, ninjas, etc.

Warriors with other non-conventional weapons like sickles, chains, anchors, ladders, ball and chain, etc. This would include farmers, metalsmiths or nunchaku users, carpenters, pirates, prisoners, etc.

As SpaceMadness said, archers with arrow showers.

Monks punching the ground to induce earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, lava eruption, drowning near bodies of water, etc. all based on the environment.

Hunters, trappers, arbourists, etc. leaving behind AOE traps like pitfalls and falling trees. Can also include demolitionists here too.

Magic knights who can embue their weapons with elemental properties. Subcategory of holy knights, crusaders, and inquisitors.

Marksmen with arquebuses, shotguns, or automatic rifles.

Cannoneer or artillerymen.

If you can allow some fantasical elements, stuff like [Advent Children spoilers] Cloud's Blade Beam, Cloud's Omnislash Version 6 or [Fate/Stay Night: UBW S02 Spoilers] Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon are pretty awesome.

I guess the valid ideas were already mentioned, but when I saw the question the first thing I thought of was a thrown weapons expert, since explosives, acids, hot or sticky substances or other such implements were around long before the modern age. As for melee, what was already said, depends on the strength vs. speed/agility ratio you aim for, can have large swords or axes, can have pole weapons, including spears, or can have that dual-wielding option mqstout mentioned, though in that case the effective attack area may be smaller and the character may be less suited to letting themselves be surrounded, likely preferring to charge into enemies that are already packed ahead.

I remember that, in "Pool Of Radiance", my fighter could "sweep" through hordes of enemies, wielding a simple sword.

So, to answer your question(s):
Class = Fighter
Weapon Type = Sword.

Edit: attachment

In Age of Empires never leave home without a couple of preachers or whatever those converters are called.

Berserker War hammer (the usual kind, not the 40K variety), if you want to go for stun effects.

Spear or halberd for best crit chance.

Or, if I might recommend something more local, though I've never seen it portrayed in a video game, the flax. It's typically a two handed weapon, a hybrid between a sickle and a sword, with a decent dismemberment chance (the Romans had to upgrade their armor because of it).

I have no idea what "AoE" stands for, besides Age of Empires, which is a RTS game series. A pure fighter, because the "specialized" fighters (barbarians, paladins etc.) usually have their specialty in some areas unrelated to physical combat (like some spellcasting for a paladin), or have some restrictions you might not like later in the game.

So a pure fighter, and he should specialize in a single-hand large sword and some blunt weapon (e.g. a mace or a hammer), and learn and specialize in two-hand fighting, without a shield.

Sure he is a bit more vulnerable without a shield, but being able to deal damage with two weapons fast is more important taking down enemies. One hand for a slashing weapon and one for a blunt crushing weapon as many enemies have resistance to either, so better have them both ready.

Specializing in a large sword is better than e.g. axes as RPGs usually seem to have some special uber-weapon that you just gotta have that is 9 times out of 10 a large sword.

I am currently in the end boss fight of Icewind Dale 2... gotta get those evil brother and sister down as fast as possible, and Icewind Dale is saved yet again. Damn that place seems to get into trouble all the time, seems like Afghanistan or something, everyone wants to do war in there, and I always have to get them out of the mess.

AoE stands for "Area of Effect". Basically, I want the character to be able to hit multiple enemies at once, and to be mainly good at dealing with large groups of enemies rather than single enemies.

(To put it another way, the character's attack should have a role similar to that of some multi-target spell lile D&D's Fireball, except not a spell and not fire.)

Axes, always axes

In that case I am out of ideas, as I don't recall whether IWD2 or any other Infinity-engine RPGs have anything like that. Melee and ranged physical attackers always attack one enemy at a time.

Diablo 2 probably had something like that with the warrior, but IIRC it was rather a special move than a type of weapon, which would hit several enemies at the same time.