Fighter build help

If you could, (and I know fighters are underpowered in many folks minds) I would like your help building a Fighter, using the PHB (I & II), Complete Series. We like to add some actual ROLEplay into our games so I was looking for an ex soldier type (ok a young one since we would probably start at 1st level).

I know I want him to be human and to use a great sword and a Heavy flail(no need for specialization/focus in the flail.
I know I would like the power attack feat tree
the weapon focus/melee master tree
Combat Brute would be nice....
Can you give me some help with some builds or let me know what other info you need want?

Are you SURE you want to use a greatsword? It's often overkill at lower levels, and you can take one level of Exotic Weapon Master to get Uncanny Blow, allowing you to dish out 2x Strength bonus when you use it two-handed. With a good strength, this lets you beat the greatsword's damage.

If he's an ex-Soldier, why not deck him out like a legionaire? Tower shield, Spear, Short Sword. Go the defense route with Combat Expertise. You have enough feats to take the Power Attack tree too, so once in a while when you want to step out from behind that shield of yours you can lay on the hurt. No, you won't be dishing out damage, but I'll bet you that the soft targets (Casters, rogues, NPCs) behind you will love your meat-shieldyness.

I know this isn't the greatsword wielding guy you wanted, but since you already picked out quite a few feats, what sort of help were you looking for?

What level is this character? Human?

Felix said:

If he's an ex-Soldier, why not deck him out like a legionaire? Tower shield, Spear, Short Sword. Go the defense route with Combat Expertise. You have enough feats to take the Power Attack tree too, so once in a while when you want to step out from behind that shield of yours you can lay on the hurt. No, you won't be dishing out damage, but I'll bet you that the soft targets (Casters, rogues, NPCs) behind you will love your meat-shieldyness.

I know this isn't the greatsword wielding guy you wanted, but since you already picked out quite a few feats, what sort of help were you looking for?

What level is this character? Human?

Click to expand...

Well, I could use some help sorting them into a good order, I get a bit overwhelmed by looking at all the feats for a fighter and I tend to put them in odd, less that optimum positions. As far as the Legionaire build, He (human, starting at 1st level) needs to be the one that lays out the big hurt. we have a Cleric that will be the "Wall"

Big Hurt type, eh? Well...

Human: Power Attack
1st: Weapon Focus (Greatsword)
F1st: Cleave
F2nd: Combat Focus (PHBII)
3rd: Combat Stability (PHBII)
F4th: Weapon Specialization (Greatsword)
6th: Leap Attack (CAdv)

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I would recommend multiclassing to Barbarian for 2 levels, if not start out as one. The +10ft to movement really does help, as does the ability to Rage, and use Rage feats later on down the line. Much better skill selection as well. True, the restriction to medium armor is a bit of a drag, but you'll want as much STR as you can get.

There is nothing in the rules that prevent Combat Focus and Rage from working together, though I can see how a DM might prohibit it. Frankly, I'd explain it as a "calm within the storm". With these two abilities working, you'll have a much needed +4 to Will saves, increasing to +6 by the time you pick up another Combat Form feat, which you should.

Feats for the future:
Improved Critical
Extra Rage (if you don't get more than a handful of Barbarian levels)
Combat Vigor
Combat Awareness
Close Quarters Fighting
Improved Weapon Focus (Greatsword)
Improved Weapon Specialization (Greatsword)

I recommend against Combat Brute, as Bull Rushing generally isn't that good, Sundering means less loot, and Heedless Charge is covered by Leap Attack, without having to waste a feat on Improved Sunder.

1) Are there any other books are you using? If you're using Core + Completes only, you'll get certain results. If your DM allows the Dragon Compendium volume 1, you'll get additional results. Etc.

2) If you want to play an ex-soldier, why not (as Felix suggests) kit him out like some kind of traditional RW soldier? One thing that was common for foot-soldiers was the use of polearms (esp. Spears), and other Reach weapons. Shortspear and shield (and a backup weapon) was one of the world's most common and successful combinations for centuries. Dragon Compendium (mentioned above) has a host of Feats that make polearms really worthwhile (many were designed by Ari Marmell aka ENWorld's Mouseferatu) because they complete the combat style that uses them in RL. You'll need to pick an archetypeal warrior to work from- most soldiers were "Sword & Board" men, but the guys with heavy weapons were out there too...as were skirmishers with light & ranged weapons (used to great effect by leaders like Alexander the Great).

3) Greatsword & Heavy Flail will be big encumberance burden- I'd choose one or the other (or even something else that strikes your fancy) as a single, main weapon- you don't really need 2 main weapons. And there are lots of choices- The Maul is essentially the blunt version of the Bastard Sword. Flails are special- they are the only non-exotic weapons that do both disarm & tripping attacks; as blunt weapons, they'll damage 80%+ of the critters in the game; they're useful for Sunders; and beyond all that, they do decent damage besides. There are some nice polearms, like the glaive (that does trip attacks), but I almost wouldn't use a polearm without the DCv1 rules mentioned above. Still, Reach + Decent damage + Hiding behind Cleric would be pretty effective, especially if you have Combat Reflexes to use AoOs to keep attackers at bay.

4) Regardless of build, you should have at least 1 ranged weapon. The most common ones in the world would be daggers, javelins, slings or spears. Bows were the weapon of choice for sheer deadliness, but required more training than most other ranged weapons (not really reflected in the game's mechanics). Crossbows are nearly as deadly as bows, and required little training, so once they were invented, they became the most common ranged weapon in use...until the rise of firearms.

Hmm. You want a damage dealer with a big sword.

First advice: Get an idea of the character. You know, knight in shining plate... lousy mercenary... brooding bounty hunter... black knight... young prince type... old veteran type...

Then choose fitting weapons.

For versatility have a look at this:
Highest stat str, next dex (at least 14), next con.
Use a bastard sword and a buckler. Quickdraw perhaps. Get a big bow that allows you to use your good str bonus in ranged combat as well. Get that uncanny blow thing for the bastard sword ASAP. You can use your sword one handed with the buckler, two handed without buckler disturbing you, and you can easily switch from bow to sword. That way you can combine the sword&boarder with the big THF fighter dude while still being really bad at ranged combat.

Get an idea of the type of fighter you want and we can offer you some nice feat choices.

If you look in Forgotten Realms (I beleive), you'll find a Feat called Militia or some such. In it, it makes a PC proficient in the weapons & armor of a given region's militiamen.

I'm not saying that's a feat you need, but rather, it contains clues as to how to kit out a soldier type.

If you want a real world example for a young fighter in army with a great sword,
that sound scottish.

So small units that act more or less independently. I agree with not carrying both large weapons, soldiers are rarely equipped this way.
Feats: power attack(human) ; Cleave(1st lvl) ; WF great sword(fighter1)
take either kn: engineering or survival (depending on wis or int higher) or even perform (dance or pipes). It also on whether your training was in scrounging your own food or building fortified camps. I consider intimidate the skill used to command soldiers so that would be a good choice for your other skill.

Assume that your going to eventually want full plate, so no more than a 12 dex.
if you have a 13 int then Combat Expertise will do wonders for you later on.

Scottish claymore dudes sound more like barbarians to me

Civilised people don't have real whisky!