looking for advice on a 5th level fighter

[Plane Sailing]

And while it seems like people like Barbarians, I don't know if flying into a Rage really fits the character concept I had in mind. He's more of an aspiring knight, or a solo adventurer righting wrongs,

I only mentioned barbarian because of the DR synergy - which is something that would be extremely valuable if you want to be a damage soak

The barbarian gets DR 1/- at 7th level and then that increases by 1 each 3 levels after that. The PHB and DMG gives broad brush stroke information about customising character classes to make them closer to what you want.

Why not talk with your DM about the possibility of incorporating the Barbarians DR (your PC is accentuating the "tough guy" aspect) at the price of some of your bonus feats?

i.e. your fighter looks like this

6th Bonus feat
7th DR 1/-
8th (loses his bonus feat)
9th
10th DR 2/- (loses his bonus feat)
11th
12th Bonus feat
13th DR 3/-
14th (loses his bonus feat)
15th
16th DR 4/- (loses his bonus feat)
17th
18th Bonus feat
19th DR 5/-
20th Bonus feat

So over his lifetime he gets 4 less bonus feats but gains useful DR.

(since *all* the fighter gets to trade is bonus feats, compared to the barbarians rage, fast movement, trap sense, bigger HD, more skill points etc, it might even be possible to merely lose feats at the levels where DR coincides - at 10th and 16th, plus losing the bonus feat at 6th in order to "prepare" him for this series of benefits)

It is up to you and your DM, but as a Dm I think I'd be prepared to allow a fighter to gain the barbarian DR by sacrificing his bonus feats at 6th, 10th and 14th level.

Cheers

 

[Darklone]

PlaneSailing... I'm not 100% sure if there has been new errata, but the last discussions about adamantine and barbarian DR or any other DR stacking or not was pretty strong on the "it does not stack" side of the balance...

 

[Plane Sailing]

PlaneSailing... I'm not 100% sure if there has been new errata, but the last discussions about adamantine and barbarian DR or any other DR stacking or not was pretty strong on the "it does not stack" side of the balance...

OK, I've not seen that, but that's cool. The fighter in question could potentially take the path I've outlined above or simply get some adamantine full plate armour for the DR 3/-

 

[argo]

Looks to me like you are off to a really good start there already. I espically like to see you covering your weakness with Iron Will and Die Hard, those will really come through for you in the long run.

So, you are taking a pass on being a two-handed damage machine and going for the "brick" instead. You also say you want to be "ruthlessly efficient". Ok, for starters, any "brick" worth his salt will need Combat Expertise eventually and looking at that gives me some ideas...

You say your DM will let you change some feats? Why don't you ask him to let you swap Weapon Focus[longsword] for Weapon Focus[Flail] and change your primary weapon to that (lets you make trip attempts with it and also gives a +2 on disarm). Stick with the light shield and big armor. Now, at 6th level you can pick up Combat Expertise and Improved Trip. You only need a touch attack to start the trip and you will have a total of +7 on an opposed strength check, nobody but a raging barbarian or another trip fighter should be able to beat you. In the unlikely event that you loose both trip and counter-trip you can still drop the flail and fight with your shield. This also opens the door for nasty combos like this: say your opponent is another heavily armored guy (or anybody who you estimate has a low touch AC) declare yourslf to be power attacking for 4 and make a trip, the touch attack will land, you trip and make your follow up attack with a +4 bonus for him being prone so you essentially make your power attack at no penalty. The key here is to start thinking tatictally: tripping gives you bonuses to hit and costs the other guy an anction to get up, find a way to make all that work for you. Just remember, this specalizes you against humanoids. If your DM throws a lot of strange monsters at you or a lot of creatures bigger than size M you may not want to go this route.

Other feats to consider for the future, in order of importance.

Weapon Specilization[flail] (need to boost damage some)
Combat Reflexes (as a "brick" you need to plug holes, use AoO's to trip guys who try to rush past you. Also, standing up provokes an AoO)
Two Weapon Fighting (no need for Improved Shield Bash, TWF works best against mooks and mooks probably won't hit your AC anyway so no need to keep the shield bonus against them. Dont' use TWF against the BBEG or big nasty Monster, use Expertise then and turtle up)
Improved Disarm (just in case you get tired of tripping all the time)
Greater Weapon Focus
Greater Weapon Spec
Dodge
Mobility

Also try to find time to work in some more "utility" feats like:
Blind Fight
Improved Init
Improved Unarmed Strike
Stunning Fist
Point Blank Shot

So your level progression might look someting like this
6: Expertise, Imp Trip
7
8: Greater Weapon Focus, ability boost to Con
9: Combat Reflexes
10: TWF (if you still see many mooks, else Dodge or Improved Init)
11
12:Greater Weapon Spec, Blind Fight, ability boost to Str

From there you can sit down again and re-evaluate the character. For magic items: remember that you can get twice as far by puting low level bonuses on both your armor and shield as by puting them all on one. Focus on getting mostly pluses for your weapon, maybe an energy enchancement or two. Look for items that boost you strength first, then other abilities second. Lastly try to find something that increases your mobility and something wierd that breaks the laws of physics (doesnt' matter what it does, you will find a creative use for it). Oh, and a cloak of restance, every adventurer needs one of those.

Anyway, hope that helps. Good luck.