The Fighter Who Wouldn't Specialize...

[Darklone]

This idea seems the most logical decision to me. The fighter class can be a generalist when it comes to weapons. Maybe you can convince your DM to let you take a feat that allows you to sheath weapons as a free action to, which would certainly help you out.

Having played such a packmule (sometimes more than 30 weapons) in LARPs, I can tell you: You don't need to sheathe weapons. Draw one or two new ones

Generalist should have the following feats:
- PBS, Rapid Shot, Precise Shot, Manyshot. One of the last three may suffice, you'll be pretty valid as archer.
- Spring Attack & Combat Reflexes, perhaps Hold the Line. That's enough for a good polearm fighter (plus prerequisites).
- Power Attack & Cleave. These feats can be used with every melee weapon.

I wouldn't take Weapon Finesse but keep Dex and strength equally high. TWF style costs a lot of feats, perhaps TWF and TWD are enough (and help with throwing weapons). Quickdraw has been mentioned and is a must IMHO. Combat Expertise is a good idea.

Improved Initiative and some other general feats for combat...

Well, this guy would have spent already a huge amount of feats and didn't even start with Special things like Imp Disarm/Sunder/Bullrush ...

I would take some rogue levels (3 or 4) for the necessary skills like tumble, jump, balance and climb.

 

[SpuneDagr]

This is making me want to play a generalist fighter... We'll see when my next opportunity is to play rather than DM...

 

[Dark Wolf 97]

Weapons Master
Sometimes the mastery of a thing is not to know each detail but to instead know how it interacts with all things. A study of not its components but its place in the world. The weapon master is indeed the soldier who does not waste their time mastering only one weapon but masters many. He seeks to use what is most suited for the job not force a weapon to perform in a manner it was not meant to perform. He learns to use his armor to its greatest advantage.

Nice work Shallown, I look forward to using this myself, although I think instead of the armor abilties I would have something like this:

Practiced weapon usage - Once per day a Weapons Master may practice with a specific exotic weapon (ie dwarven urgosh ;not a dwarven urgosh) and gain the exotic weapon proficenecy feat in that weapon. The feat disappears the next day. This practice requires 30 minutes of time and an area sufficient to practice with that weapon to some extent.

Immediate weapon usage - The Weapons master may once a day use a move equivalent action to gain a proficeincy in a weapon he has in hand. This last for 1 Hour per level in Weapons Master.

my input, nice work

 

[rkanodia]

How about something like this?

Impromptu Technique
Prerequisites: Who knows?
Benefit: Once per day per character level, as a free action, you draw upon your understanding of combat principles, weaponry, and terrain to utilize an unexpected technique. Roll 1d10 and consult the table below; you gain the bonus listed (even if you don't meet the prerequisites) for a maximum of one minute, or when you stop holding the weapon you are currently wielding. You may not use Impromptu Technique with a weapon for which you possess the Weapon Focus feat. You may not use Impromptu Technique more than once per day for a particular weapon.
1: Improved Disarm feat
2: Improved Trip feat
3: Spring Attack feat
4: Cleave feat
5: Improved Sunder feat
6: Combat Reflexes feat (+1 AoO per round minimum)
7: Improved Critical feat
8: Flurry of Strikes (as flurry of blows, but for weapon wielded)
9: Ideal Attack (use your highest stat modifier for attacks with this weapon)
10: roll twice, ignoring another roll of 10

Any thoughts? I haven't really done a reality check for the balance on this thing.

 

[haiiro]

My idea is that the character would get different bonuses for different weapons.

For example:
Dagger: Gain sneak attack.
Rapier: Get mobility while you wield it.
Greatsword: Gain power attack.
Whip: You get Improved Disarm.
etc.

This plus Storyteller01's idea of basing these abilities on weapon types is what really makes your PrC idea sing (for me, at least). I also particularly like Shallown's practiced weapon ability -- and while I agree that you can approximate the kind of generalist fighter you're talking about without a PrC, I think there's enough to set the class apart to justify making a PrC around it.

The only thing I think you'd have to address would be what happens when (for example) the MoN is wielding a rapier/piercing weapon -- which grants Mobility -- and he already has Mobility. The easy answer is that the PrC ability doesn't grant an additional benefit, but IMO that'd be pretty boring.

Perhaps allow a couple of abilities to choose from per weapon/weapon group -- sort of like the rogue's 10th level + abilities. For instance: with piercing weapons, the MoN could choose wounding, Mobility or Improved Initiative while wielding them (just throwing those out off the top of my head). This choice could be either a) fixed, made when he levels up, or -- much more powerful -- b) made on the fly and changed from fight to fight.

Just a few ideas. I really like the class concept.