Dimitri Mazieres
Explorer
After reading through most of the threads already posted that have discussed ways to improve the standard 3.5 Fighter, I thought I might as well give a shot at a custom fix, taking into account what seem to be the most commonly perceived problems with the class, namely, lack of versatility and/or interesting class options, poor skill options and points and poor saves.
I think these changes somehow take away from the "easy to play" concept that sometimes is mentioned in regards to the Fighter, but I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too, right?
My intention was to address the aforementioned problems in the following way:
Skills/Skill points: What most people do: 4+Int points/level. As for the skill list, I thought that the ability to choose two other skills to add to the list would give some flexibility without stepping too much on the toes of other classes.
Versatility/Uniqueness: The fighting styles provide a certain amount of these, in the same way the combat styles do so for the Ranger (although I'll be the first to admit that these are more powerful options), while keeping the original bonus feats for further customization. Also, I added the WF/WS feats as class features to free up a couple of feats for the lengthier list of fighter bonus feats available since the PHB release, and since most people take them anyway.
Finally, I liked the idea of the capstone ability from Pathfinder, so I added the fighting style master at 20th level as an incentive to keep with the class.
Poor saves: Although I didn't change the saves progression, I think the Mettle ability somehow compensates the poor Will save, and strengthens the Fort save, improving the Fighter's odds against save-or-die/suck spells. I intentionally didn't touch the Ref save, as I think the class shouldn't be good at everything, and there's always feats for further improvement.
Reliance on magic items: This is where the Ignore DR ability comes into play, so that the "weapon golf bag" situation could be a bit lessened. I intentionally left the alignment DR option unavailable, as I thought that was too much a "mystical" condition to justify being bypassed by combat knowledge. And also so that bless spells keep their importance.
Also, some of the fighting style abilities try to help with this issue, as well, such as the bigger damage dice for the heave style.
So, what do you think of it?
I understand that this version is pretty powerful when compared to the other martial classes, but it still probably isn't as powerful as high level casters.
Also, this was purely a mental exercise, since I haven't playtested it, or thought about what may happen when combined with each and every other class (although I think some combinations could work well, such as Light Fighter/Swashbuckler).
I think these changes somehow take away from the "easy to play" concept that sometimes is mentioned in regards to the Fighter, but I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too, right?

Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d10.
Class Skills: Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Swim (Str), plus two other skills of the player's choice, selected at character creation.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class FeaturesCode:Class Base Fort Ref Will Level Attack Save Save Save Special Bonus 1st +1 +2 0 +0 Bonus feat, Weapon Focus 2nd +2 +3 0 +0 Bonus feat 3rd +3 +3 +1 +1 Fighting style I 4th +4 +4 +1 +1 Bonus feat, Weapon Specialization 5th +5 +4 +1 +1 Ignore DR I 6th +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 Bonus feat 7th +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 Fighting style II 8th +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 Bonus feat 9th +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 Mettle 10th +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 Bonus feat, Ignore DR II 11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +3 +3 Fighting style III 12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +4 +4 Bonus feat 13rd +13/+8/+3 +8 +4 +4 14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +4 +4 Bonus feat 15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +5 +5 Fighting style IV, Ignore DR III 16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +5 +5 Bonus feat 17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +5 +5 18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +6 +6 Bonus feat 19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +6 +6 Fighting style V 20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +6 +6 Bonus feat, Fighting style mastery
All of the following are class features of the Fighter.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Fighter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (including tower shields).
Bonus Feats: At 1st level, a Fighter gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to the feat that any 1st-level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The Fighter gains an additional bonus feat at 2nd level and every two Fighter levels thereafter (4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, and 20th). These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats. A Fighter must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums.
Weapon Focus: At 1st level, a gains the Weapon Focus feat with a weapon of his choice.
Fighting style (Ex): At 3rd level, a Fighter must select one of two fighting styles to pursue: Light or Heavy. This choice affects the character’s class features but does not restrict his selection of feats or special abilities in any way.
The Light fighting style favors mobility and penetrating the enemies' defenses. The Fighter may use its abilities while wearing light or no armor at all.
The Heavy fighting style favors dealing great amounts of damage, while resisting the onslaught of the enemies' attacks. The Fighter may use its abilities while wearing medium or heavy armor.
Refer to the following table for the abilities provided by the two fighting styles.
Code:Style Light Heavy Stage I Insight bonus +1/+1 Increase damage 1 step Dodge bonus +1 AC bonus +1 II Insight bonus +2/+2 Increase damage 1 step Dodge bonus +2 AC bonus +2 Increase critical range 1 III Insight bonus +3/+3 Increase damage 1 step Dodge bonus +3 AC bonus +3 IV Insight bonus +4/+4 Increase damage 1 step Dodge bonus +4 AC bonus +4 Increase critical range 2 V Insight bonus +5/+5 Increase damage 1 step Dodge bonus +5 AC bonus +5 Mastery Irresistible strike Brutal strike
Light fighting style abilities:
Insight bonus (Ex): The Fighter's training allows him to see gaps in his enemies' defenses that wouldn't be apparent to the naked eye. You gain the listed bonus to your attack and damage rolls while wearing light or no armor.
Dodge bonus (Ex): The Fighter's training teaches him that the best defense is not getting hit at all. You gain the listed bonus to your armor class while wearing light or no armor.
Increase critical range (Ex): The Fighter learns to take advantage of every opporunity to inflict as much damage as possible with whatever he is holding as a weapon. You increase the critical range of any weapon you wield by one step. At 15th level, the critical range increases one step further.
Example: a 3rd level fighter wielding a longsword would treat the sword's critical range as 17-20 instead of the normal 19-20. At 15th level, the critical range would become 15-20.
This ability stacks with the Improved Critical feat and the Keen weapon special quality (but not with both, as per standard rules).
Irresistible strike (Ex): At 20th level, the Fighter can take advantage of any kind of flaw in his enemies' defenses to successfully land his strikes. Once per day, you may treat all your attacks as touch attacks for a number of rounds equal to your Dexterity modifier.
Heavy fighting style abilities:
Increase damage (Ex): The Fighter trains hard to make the most of anything he has available for a weapon. You treat the damage of the weapong you are holding as one step greater than usual for its kind. Refer to Table 7-4 in the PHB to see what damage you should use. The damage die is increased one step further for each 4 levels after 3rd (7th, 11th, 15th and 19th).
Example: a 3rd level Fighter wielding a longsword would inflict 1d10 damage instead of the normal 1d8. He would increase the die type every four levels thereafter, until by 19th level, where he would deal 2d8 points of damage instead of 1d8.
AC bonus (Ex): The Fighter's extensive training with heavier armor enables him to improve the protection it provides. You receive the listed armor bonus while wearing medium or heavy armor.
Brutal strike (Ex): At 20th level, the Fighter becomes superbly adept at dealing great amounts of damage. Once per day, you may inflict full damage on all your attacks (no damage roll needed) for a number of rounds equal to your Strength modifier.
Weapon Specialization: At 4th level, the Fighter gains the Weapon Specialization feat for a weapon for which he meets the prerequisites.
Ignore DR (Ex): At 5th level, by virtue of his intensive training, the fighter learns to bypass some of the special defenses possessed by certain creatures. Choose one type of damage reduction from the following: damage type (bludgeoning, piercing & slashing), special material (adamantite, silver, etc.), or magic. When fighting a creature that possesses this type of defense and you don't have an appropriate weapon, you ignore 5 points of DR when calculating damage inflicted.
This ability does not count as extra damage if you have a weapon with the appropriate quality.
At 10th and 15th level, you may choose another type of DR to ignore, or add 5 more points to the amount of DR you may ignore.
Mettle (Ex): The Fighter's resolve allows him to endure in situations where most others would falter. If he makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Will half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping character does not gain the benefit of mettle.
If the Fighter already has the Mettle ability from a second class, he still suffers no ill effects on a successful save, but also if he fails the saving throw he suffers only the lesser effect.
My intention was to address the aforementioned problems in the following way:
Skills/Skill points: What most people do: 4+Int points/level. As for the skill list, I thought that the ability to choose two other skills to add to the list would give some flexibility without stepping too much on the toes of other classes.
Versatility/Uniqueness: The fighting styles provide a certain amount of these, in the same way the combat styles do so for the Ranger (although I'll be the first to admit that these are more powerful options), while keeping the original bonus feats for further customization. Also, I added the WF/WS feats as class features to free up a couple of feats for the lengthier list of fighter bonus feats available since the PHB release, and since most people take them anyway.
Finally, I liked the idea of the capstone ability from Pathfinder, so I added the fighting style master at 20th level as an incentive to keep with the class.
Poor saves: Although I didn't change the saves progression, I think the Mettle ability somehow compensates the poor Will save, and strengthens the Fort save, improving the Fighter's odds against save-or-die/suck spells. I intentionally didn't touch the Ref save, as I think the class shouldn't be good at everything, and there's always feats for further improvement.
Reliance on magic items: This is where the Ignore DR ability comes into play, so that the "weapon golf bag" situation could be a bit lessened. I intentionally left the alignment DR option unavailable, as I thought that was too much a "mystical" condition to justify being bypassed by combat knowledge. And also so that bless spells keep their importance.

Also, some of the fighting style abilities try to help with this issue, as well, such as the bigger damage dice for the heave style.
So, what do you think of it?
I understand that this version is pretty powerful when compared to the other martial classes, but it still probably isn't as powerful as high level casters.
Also, this was purely a mental exercise, since I haven't playtested it, or thought about what may happen when combined with each and every other class (although I think some combinations could work well, such as Light Fighter/Swashbuckler).
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