The Fighter has the Protection Style, but that clashes with Opportunity Attack, and there's the secret class feature, Sentinel, which is like a Fighting style of its own that was shunted off to the Feats section so everybody else can cannibalize it.
Then you have the Cavalier build which has actual marking
The Fighter would have been way better at protection if it had been given extra reactions to use and probably Sentinel as a basic feature. Or allowed all Fighters to use the Battlemaster's Goading Attack, without the extra damage.
Why is it so hard to understand?!
Everybody gets 4 skills, everybody gets a Background and most get at least 1 tool as well. That's the BASELINE! You should judge a class on what it adds to the baseline! Even the Barbarian (who is also in need of help) adds a few Rituals to that baseline! The same way all classes put DEX to their AC and can use a dagger. You judge the combat prowess on what it ads to that baseline!
It's like when you do algebra and remove the same stuff from both side of an equation. I.e. "There's a 2x on both side of the equation so we can remove them from each side and not consider them in our further calculation" That '2x' is backgrounds!
No. Imo you are wrong.
Here is why...
How big is adding 10 hp to every character?one time add 10 to max.
At first level, pretty big. Really big in fact for some classes. Less for others. Wizard at 16 base plus Con vs fighter at 20 base plus Con is huge difference compared to 6 vs 10.
But at 11th level that same 10 hp is trivial.
Now in both cases the "net" change is 10 hp, buts its impact is not even tho we removed 9 levels from each side.
What matters is not the " net chsnge" looked at in isolation but how much the character can do overall.
A fighter who wants to can start with 2 skills from class, 2 skill and 2 tools from background and up to 2 skills from race. That is 6+2. The rogue can start with 2 more.
So that difference is not the " net" 2 vs 0 but really more the 2 tools plus 6 or 8 possible. Of course you thrn get expertise, reliable vs extra feats but also other advantages like armor HP etc.
It's how much fo these things as a whole in conjunction add up, how much does it make you able to be doing stuff or not. It's not about wiping away some stuff and then narrowing in on one piece.
Put another way, giving you acfollar and Jerry 20 dollars is just not a big deal if you both had millions already.
The more you cut out and ignore in your comparison the less reliable it is.