What DO you DO for... Fighters?

[Paraxis]

I would start by not forcing the fighter to take medium armor, heavy armor or shield proficiency at 1st level; convert those into bonus feat slots. That way, a fighter who wanted to go down a different path could do that more easily -- take Improved Unarmed Strike or whatever.

I toyed with this idea too, but seemed unbalancing. I mean say I am a rogue,monk,ranger, build for one level of fighter I get 4 extra fighter feats. I don't want armor prof and a one level dip for 4 feats sounds to powerful.

Normal bonus feat+(1) from tower shield+(1) from heavy armor+(1) from medium armor

 

[Land Outcast]

Yeha, the level dipping would be annoying.

Just change it to:

a bonus feat at level 3, a bonus feat at level 5, and a bonus feat a level 8

(hum... somehow sounds wrong... not sure why yet)

 

[Nyaricus]

Yeha, the level dipping would be annoying.

Just change it to:

a bonus feat at level 3, a bonus feat at level 5, and a bonus feat a level 8

(hum... somehow sounds wrong... not sure why yet)

Well, you could say that those bonus feats have to be spent on [exotic] weapon profs, armour profs, shield profs or Improved Unarmed Strike, all at first level.

And it sounds wrong because they are now giving pure bonus feats till level 5 - which is REALLY nice, and simply too good.

Nice idea Eric, thanks for contributing.

 

[dante58701]

I use Carnifex, fighters are more suited for the gentler warriors. Carnifex are awesome. But when I do play fighters, I mix it up a little, a smidgen of barbarian, a dash of rogue.

 

[Sir Brennen]

IMC, I'm also toying with the idea of no Heavy Armor prof. at first level (I can't see a fighter without Medium Armor or Shield prof. as part of basic training, though.)

To compensate, a fighter earns a bonus feat at 3rd level, though it's from a much narrower list, focusing on defensive combat - Heavy Armor Prof, Armor specialization, Dodge, Two Weapon Defense, Combat Expertise, etc. (The final list is still being worked on.) The higher level avoids cherry-picking a figher level, and the list is focused on what it's replacing - the defensive capability of Heavy Armor.

IMC, there's no chain shirts or mail, so Heavy Armor as a prof. itself is still pretty attractive. The class ability may end up being called Defensive Specialization, rather than just "bonus feat".

Now, thanks to this thread, I may have to add Skill Focus: Knowledge [Tactics] to that list

Other changes include use of Weapon Groups, and the Focus and Specialization feats apply to the entire group.

 

[Sir Brennen]

I allow them to use Knowledge (Tactics) to counter feints and tumble checks.

What else does this skill do in your campaign. Do you have a write-up of it anywhere?

 

[Sravoff]

I give Finesse as a free feat at Lvl 1

Weapon Focus can be used in place of Combat Expertise as a prereq to disarm and feint etc

Weapon Grips feat (prereq Greater Weapon focus): Allows that Fighter to add special qualities to their weapon including things like Keen, Vicious, Wounding, Throwing and DR penetrating

Bonus feats

Are you using woodelf's weapons as special effects?

 

[Nyaricus]

Are you using woodelf's weapons as special effects?

Speaking of which, does anyone have a link? That was a great thread

 

[Land Outcast]

Yessir!

Here!

And here's the pdf, just because I finally learnt how to make URLs nice-looking

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I add Superior Focus (lvl 16) and Superior Specialization (lvl 20) as feat options. It gives the fighter something that they can definitively do better than barbs (damage) in a straight fight, which they are supposed to be best at. It also gives a pure fighter an advantage at high levels, for those who complain that taking more than 12 fighter levels is pointless. In general, I don't think that fighters need fixing (they're actually my favorite warrior-type class). I know that a lot of players think of them as weak or 'vanilla', but I've found that those are the players that lack creativity and rp skill in general.