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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gaiden" data-source="post: 1258914" data-attributes="member: 103">In the spirit of a 1v4 battle where the 1 is a fighter and all recommendations must remain perfectly general I am picturing some sort of weapon's master (just think bad@$$, rather than PrC) who has to have an intimidating aura to even hope to stand up against such odds.Since there are no specifics, instead focus on characteristic weaknesses of the fighter.  The first is an awful will save.  Any hold, charm, control, etc. spell or effect will instantly end the battle.  Counteract this either with feats or items.  Iron Will is always a good choice for a fighter.  Anything that either raises his will saves or makes him immune to certain types of attacks (ring of free action).The next is a suboptimal reflex save.  Most reflex saves just result in HP loss which the fighter fortunately has plenty of.  So either increase the reflex save or increase the HPs or both.  Do this with high con, con boosting items, or feats.  Increasing Con has the very nice effect of increasing HP's making reflex saves less important and increasing Fort saves which play a role in many save or die spells.In terms of combat, few skills and few skill points are really not all that important.  About the only thing your figher has to worry about is not being good at surprising his foes and not being good at avoiding ambushes.  Circumstances can overcome both of these things though.  If PC's are in the open and this guy is not and far away, it doesn't matter how awful his hide and move silently are because the distance will more than make up for it.  Moreover, if he has full concealment and is not moving there is no reason to roll a hide or move silently check (he may have to hold his breath though).  The fighter does have several good mobility skills including ride, jump and climb.  I would suggest using ride to full advantage.  Even if no mounted feats are taken, the added mobility offered by a horse is invaluable, especially vs. numerous foes.  Also, ride can be used in place of jump when mounted.  With enough mobility, even tumble is (usually) unnecessary.Mobility is really REALLY important.  Consider mounts, feats, and items.  Mobility essentially lets you control melee vs. missile (including spell slinging).  Spring Attack is invaluable (or Rideby attack).  I realize this gets into specific feat chains, but spring attacking, rideby attacking, or haste is going to be essential if this fighter is going to stand a chance.  The fighter has to avoid flanking scenarios, avoid tackling with the meat grinders (barbarians, rangers, and fighters), avoid being in line of sight for spellcasters, and control the movement of his foes.Alternatively he can try and sequester everyone to him if he has feats like cleave and/or whirlwind attack.  Controlling mobility can also take the form of tripping or otherwise harrasing the foe.Finally, there is the issue of number of actions.  For every action this npc gets, the PCs get 4x that (at least).  At every opportunity, the fighter must work to prevent those actions while maintaining his own - again, improved trip is nice.  Disarming, sundering, or bullrushing with the right conditions are ways to do this.  Cleave is nice because you effectively get an extra action.  As was suggested earlier, tanglefoot bags, are nice.  Also consider using nets - even with the nonproficient penalty, a touch attack is not all that difficult, same goes for bolas.Use caltrops to control foes mobility.As has been suggested - the best possible preparation is to know your foes.</blockquote>

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