Avin's suggestion that you're looking for a rogue rather than a fighter is probably more pronounced in 4E, where BAB's are normalized. A rogue with a rapier proficiency in 4E can have the same attack bonus as a fighter with a sword, on top of having acrobatics, etc.
One area where things became to combat focused for me, I have a goblin rogue, he uses a rapier, but is he a combatant? not at all! he is more like a CSI than his party member the Barbarian who is like SWAT
Cheater
I see your point, but that would work with a "pure" Fighter? My ranged didn't use prestige classes because (again, not snarky here) it doesn't seem very FIGHTER to me.
Kensai cheats that concept, for me
On a really really silly note, kensais were seen in our games like dudes who flight and shot beams from their eyes
4E has many suggestions for reskin classes and powers. I believe chosing some Powers you could emulate your Fighter style using a Ranger. For sure, maybe that could sound cheating for you like using a Kensai is cheating to me. But it's all good, I guess, different people, different impressions from this great game.
PS. interesting that you find Barbarians more "tank" than Fighters. I always imagine them using 2H weapons, while Fighters (again, in my imagination) works perfectly using shields, like Paladins.
The tank (IMO) can have either a lot of hit points or a lot of armor, both help the ability to hold their own in combat, the barbarian could dish out a lot of damage and hold his own (with a d12 hp and con bonus in rage [3e])
Plus a tank (in real life) has a large cannon for doing lots of damage, is that not what the barbarian's two-handed weapon serves as? Or the Paladin's Smite? Both are built to tank and simply tank, of course, that isn't always true since I have had a few of each that did not tank (Like a Paladin who Wrestled everyone or a Barbarian that flanked like ALL THE TIME)
I just feel the abilities in 4e rail roaded me, not to say the class abilities of 3e did the same, or class skills, since WoTC got ahold of D&D they made more pronounced classes, in fact, I personally have always preferred the core 4 (fighters, clerics, thieves, wizards) to the many options, but again, that is just me.
The Paladin is the obvious defender, with armor and a shield and healing ability, it's what he does, but since he already does that, why have a fighter?
that is my argument, at least about fighters only being a sword/shield guy, or just hack and slash, is someone does it better then them, so why play one?
As for me cheating, I could do something similar with no magical adjustments and no special abilities, it would just require more time.
Like I would take the feats that allow me to use things like Pin with my bow, thus pinning with the arrow doing more than some wizards can with spells, of course most monsters can break out of it, having the feats to get an extra attack with a bow mean I can focus my attention on 1 foe and kill him quickly or break it up over a few and provide the support an AC-130 gives US Troops.
For a fun twist, he bought a flying carpet, now THAT was a deadly force. Next step would have been flying boots
