how do you make a Fighter be not-boring?

[Herobizkit]

As a general rule, I don't play Fighters past 4th level - the level you can get Weapon Specialization. I am also a notorious multi-class fiend.

Fighter/Rogue is notoriously awesome, especially if you have a partner who is also a Rogue. Co-flanking bad guys is awesome for damage output.

Fighter/Cleric is pretty typical for Dwarves.

Fighter/Monk can be gobs of fun with the right build (but in reality, Monk/Rogue is liquid awesome).

And the above posters are correct... givng the character a personality and purpose will make the Fighter far more interesting than his game stats.

 

[Particle_Man]

I think there is room for single-classed Fighters to be interesting:

1) Skill Tricks from Complete Scoundrel.
2) Tactical Feats from Complete Warrior (and others). Each of these gives the fighter three situational tricks.
3) PHB II feats.
4) And you can even take a few maneuvers/stances from Book of 9 Swords via feats.

 

[aboyd]

it seems like fighters have essentially the same gameplay style from level 1 through level 20, just with more hitpoints and without all the fun stuff that casters get.

Herzog has it right. Wizards get spells, rogues get skills, and fighters get feats. You pick a fighter class if you want to be feat-obsessed.

Sharkon also hit on a good point -- even just a single level of barbarian can do you real good. Make it your first level, and pick human for your race. You'll get two feats, and you can do exactly what Sharkon said and then roll right into fighter.

As for what *I* do to make fighters more interesting, well.... First, I have a house rule for the game I DM. That is: fighter bonus feats are awarded at any level that a normal feat is not awarded. (Levels 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20). By level 20, this gives 3 more feats than normal. That allows a level 20 fighter to essentially have a whole extra mini feat chain from the house rule. By level 5 or 6, you have one more feat than a "normal" fighter.

Second, although I do not allow Book of 9 Swords into my campaign (a very "martial power on steroids" kind of book), I do allow all the Complete books, along with the PHB 2. So I try to take advantage of feats that are unexpectedly good in those extra books.

For example, in Complete Warrior, I like the Ranged Disarm and Ranged Pin feats almost exclusively for the cool flavor. Ranged Pin in particular is dangerous, because a DM can "nerf" the feat by merely having all his enemies avoid walls & trees. However, if your DM is a fair player, that feat is a really fun way to stop the bad guy from escaping. Ranged Disarm is also fun in that if you get really good at it, it's awesome to have a high-level character disarm a room full of bad guys.

I like Shield Slam from the same book just due to the ability to apply something other than hit point damage. I've been toying with allowing Shield Slam to do a 1-round Stun instead of just Daze -- this way a fighter can work with a rogue to enable sneak attacks. It's pretty high level stuff, so I don't think it's terribly unbalancing in concept, although I've not yet tried it in gameplay.

The Combat Brute and Raptor School feats are fun just for the varied attack styles. The High Sword Low Axe is awesome for free trip attempts. I love the idea of a two-handed weapon master striding amongst foes, knocking them over as he goes.

In the Player's Handbook 2, the Penetrating Shot feat gives a bow-using fighter something similar to a lightning bolt effect -- the shot hits everyone in a 60' line. That's cool, although it's situational. Telling Blow is just crazy-good for a fighter/rogue multiclass character. Especially a rogue with all the feats that make crits more frequent. Combat Panache & Shadow Striker are also good for such a character.

Blood-Spiked Charger is awesome for shield-bashing fighters.

I also allow some fighter bonus feats from the Net Book of Feats. If you haven't heard of that, it's a collection of online custom-made feats that come with balance ratings, so a DM can tell if a feat is a good fit for his campaign. I'll tell you about the three coolest feats I allow from that. First, Bleeding Critical, which allows a fighter to do 1 point of Constitution damage on a strike. I have ruled that the effect stacks, so if a fighter manages to score 3 crits against an opponent, then that enemy has lost 3 points of Constitution, including the lowered hit point totals that it implies.

Second, the feat Opportunity Shot allows bows to be used for attacks of opportunity at point-blank range. This gives a bow-fighter a huge threatened area. Couple this with the Combat Reflexes feat, and you have a Legolas-type that can whip arrows all over the battlefield, many times.

Finally, the feat Riposte allows you an AOO at anyone who swings at you and misses. Depending on the DM, it may be that "1 or more" misses gets you one riposte, or it may be that each miss earns you a riposte. If the latter, this scales up really well at high levels where you could be surrounded by 2 or more enemies with many attacks; you could slice & dice them in retaliation a whole lot. It can cause a fighter to deal out as much damage to a hostile crowd as a wizard's fireball or other AOE spells.

Good luck. Have fun!

 

[Vardock]

I once made a fighter with improved disarm, improved trip, improved unarmed strike and, improved grapple. Although He fought with A Dwarven waraxe he also carried a truncheron fopr non-lethal combat, and often disarmed foes rather than directly attacking them. also Disarming is good against spellcasters. So is grappling. So is disarming a grappling spellcaster. One can "disarm" a holy symbol or spell compoment pouch. My DM had his spellcasters running away from my fighter because he did that.

 

[FEADIN]

Fighte/Rogue (Thief) is a classic since 1st edition and in 3.5 with Prestige class you can do almost anything in this way.
I remember a Balrog who struck our Fighter/Rogue 8/11 fighting with 2 weapons, missed his save and resistance vs Holy aura, was blinded, lost his dexterity and died in one round...... way too much 6 sided dice

 

[Jhaelen]

The key to making Fighters "non-boring" is to figure out why your guy or gal does what he does...and how. Give him a personality.

This is the most important advice. Actually, if you think you'll enjoy playing the role of a fighter, then you probably will - if not, play something else!

The only advice I have to add that hasn't been mentioned yet:
Take a good look at the magic items that are available at your level. They are an excellent way to add to your bag of tricks (speaking of which is a good example for an item with open-ended usefulness in many situations - combat or otherwise!).
If you are allowed to use the MIC, it's got a lot of low-priced, useful items that can be used 1-3 times per day to expand your options. Chosen carefully you can alleviate most of a fighter's weaknesses.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

To not be boring, first you need to decide what it is you find boring. Is it doing the same thing every round? Power Attack or Combat Expertise and the subsequent guessing/calculating how much attack bonus you can afford to turn into damage or AC may be all you need. Or you could wield a bastard sword and buckler and switch between weapon and shield and two handed attacking as the situation warrants. Or maybe you would rather be playing a fighter/rogue so you can scheme how to five foot step in order to get combat advantage. Or maybe it's just doing damage that is boring. In that case, take some feats to give you other options. Improved Trip, Improved Disarm (if your campaign features a lot of weapon using foes), etc. You can also take the various grapple feats (or multiclass to Monk to get them). Or maybe you desperately wish for some resource management to be a part of your character. Multiclass paladin or cleric for smites and channel divinity feats may be what you are looking for. (Or maybe multiclass barbarian and managing your rages will do the trick).

It does mostly come down to feats and multiclassing, but a lot depends upon what you want to do.

Mathematical complexity:
Power Attack
Cleave
Combat Expertise

More mobility: Dodge+mobility+spring attack+(PHB 2) bounding assault
More damage based on movement: multiclass scout
More damage based on position: multiclass rogue
Defense based on position: Uncanny dodge, Elusive Target
Inflict conditions: Three mountain style+shield slam+shield charge (heavy mace and shield). Charge someone, knock them prone, and make them save against being dazed. Then hit them several times with your mace and make them save against being dazed.
Sequential maneuver combinations: shock trooper, combat brute (if you combine them with leap attack and elusive target, this can yield a really impressive series of moves--on the other hand, leap attack is rather broken so sane DMs should not allow it, but it's still a good combo without leap attack).
Additional combat options: wield a reach weapon or bastard sword/waraxe and buckler. Get the Improved Grapple feat. Etc.

Resource management:
Fighter/Cleric (or paladin)/Templar (or warpriest). Take at most 4 cleric levels and look for swift action spells or abilities that increase your combat prowess. (War domain is a good source of weapon feats).
Barbarian/Fighter

Giving bonuses to your allies and yourself:
Fighter/Marshal (Miniatures Handbook). You should take at least four levels of Marshal but you can easily benefit from as many as 8. This combo also combines very well with paladin (if lawful good) or hexblade (if not good). The more mileage you can get out of your charisma the better.

Fighters don't have to be boring. But you do need to put at least as much thought into your feats class, and equipment choices as a sorcerer puts into his spell selection if you want to be both interesting and effective. For people who like simple and effective, there are barbarians.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Well, aside from picking up Book of Nine Swords or D&D 4E:

Pick feats that give you new options in combat (or at least make you good at them.).
First step is to ignore feats like Weapon Focus and related feats. If all you want is power, they might indeed be a good choice, but if you want the character to play interesting and with variety, they just suck. They don't give you options, just bonuses to attack and damage. If all a Wizard could do was select the same spell but with more damage, he wouldn't be as interesting as he is, right?

So, good feats to take:
- Improved Trip. Trip is one of the more powerful conditions you can inflict on your enemy - if he is knocked prone, he loses his chance for a full attack or has to suck up hefty penalties. And he can't move, either.
- Improved Disarm. Great against humanoid foes within a reasonable size (Huge Giants wielding Two-Handed weapons are probably never a good choice).
- Improved Grapple. Turn of enemy spellcasters.
- Whirlwind Attack. Not necessarily as powerful as it could be, but very "cool".
- Precise Shot and/Or Far Shot: Gives you a notably different option in combat, especially useful if you have flying enemies or lots of difficult terrain between you and the enemy. I think there is also a feat somewhere that allows you to use Strength instead of Dexterity for thrown weapons. Combined with a Returning weapon.
- Skill Focus (Intimidate). Your only social skill, and you probably don't have the Charisma.
- Any tactical feats that fit your weapon choice(s).

You don't need all of these feats, and it will take quite some time since you can get them, too, so you need to set priorities.

Multiclass Options:
- Ranger for more skill points. Overall, you get a lot of "bang" for your back, improved saves, free feats and so on. Being able to go scouting together with a Rogue could make a big difference. Of course, you migh want to invest into non-heavy armor.
- Barbarian for Rage. Pick Extra Rage to get more uses. You also get slightly more skill points, might be a good way to boost your Survival or Intimidate skill. Intimidate is your only social interaction skill you can keep reasonably high, and it might allow you to participate in uncommon situations.
- Rogue is not a terrible choice, but losing the attack bonus might hurt too much. Of course, some extra sneak attack damage is nothing to sneeze at, and the skill points gained can be used to master a few useful skills - Stealth related, Perception related, Social related, or even Use Magic Device.

IIRC, the Book of Iron Might also provides an interesting approach to get more combat maneuvers out of the system. That would give you a lot of options every round, allowing you to combine disarms, blinding attacks and similar stuff.

 

[green slime]

I go even further than aboyd. IMC, fighters get a bonus feat every level, instead of only every second level.

This allows fighters to gain multiple specialities, usually one melee, one ranged.

I don't allow Bot9S. I do allow most feats for fighters from most sources, including some inhouse feats.

 

[thurgon]

has anyone tried any multi-class fighter builds that ended up being interesting?

Cleric/Fighter builds can prove very able and very fun. Of course you can also do things like build toward a PrC as well, like Knight Protector.

But in the end the fighter is about more then just taking his swing on his turn. With the right feats you can disarm foes who threaten you or your friends, you can knock foes away from the more vulnerable party members, like you mage with a good bull rush. If you take the feats for it you really can control much of what the foes you face can do, it just depends on what you take and how you use it. Look at your choices for feats, it's simply massive and notice just how many feats you as a fighter will be able to get. You can build a ranged damage dealer if you like, a horse knight with no equal on the open field, a truly brutal damage dealer with either TWF or a good two hander, a battle field controller with knock around feats and disarm/sunder. Your limited only by your imagination with a fighter, he can be so many different things. Or you can simply swing a sword, if that is all you want him to do.