Help with making a straight(ish) fighter

[Avaris]

So I'm looking to gen a new character to join an existing party on a short-term basis (as I'm leaving the area in a few months). Almost every other character in the party has some form of magic, with only a fairly powerful monk for melee fighter. Hence, I'm looking to gen a straight up fighter.

Simple enough you may think. However I have a problem; I want the character to be interesting. A simple fighter doesn't have a lot they can do, yet I want to steer away from magical options as much as possible. With access to most of the sourcebooks, though ideally mostly sticking to the 'core', how would YOU gen a 10th level fighter?

Also, when I last flicked through the books I'm sure I came across an item that removed the need to sleep/eat/drink from a character, yet now I can't find it. Its sort of like the Clear spindle Ioun stone, but a little better. Anyone recognise it?

[Strife Warzeal]

Personally I would probably pick another melee class other than fighter, maybe barbarian or something from ToB if you have it. So I can't really help choose feats for a fighter.

The closest thing I can think for the item you are thinking of is the ring of sustenance you only need 2 hours of sleep and you don't need to eat or drink while you wear it.

[DwarvenExodus]

After reading the title I almost linked you to the LGBT thread. Almost. :smalltongue:

I would second ToB, but you said to stay as close to core as possible. Maybe talk to the DM and ask for some leeway? You have 49k at level 10, so you could look for some interesting weapon/armor abilities.

As for preventing sleeping, eating and drinking, which book were you looking in? I'm assuming DMG if you're sticking to core, although you should really try to go through the MIC with your DM if you want really cool stuff.

[soulchicken]

My wife made a straight fighter, level 11, for a campaign we are currently running, and she did a spiked chain, tripper build with power and reckless attack. Did some decent damage (bout 50 a hit), and with all the extra attacks she generated through combat reflexes, the spiked chain itself and improved trip she did very well.

Cleric didn't do much good healer so her character died eventually =(. That character brought some good battlefield control and damage into the group.

Feats, (these are from memory, so may be off)
Power Attack
Reckless Attack
Weapon Focus
Weapon Spec
Combat Expertise
Imp Trip
Two-Handed Powerstrike (2x Strength Bonus)
Combat Reflexes
Exotic Weapon Prof (Spiked Chain)

[Lateral]

Yeah, there are pretty much two ways to make a decent fighter- charging or tripping. I suggest tripping, it's more fun. Take a guisarme or spiked chain (if guisarme, also have armor spikes so you can attack at 5ft), take Combat Reflexes, Improved Trip, and Knockdown. That's a basic set-up right there; stand near enemies, hit them whenever they provoke and on your turn; do at least 10 damage (shouldn't be too hard; a high STR and/or Power Attack can help), enemy falls over, hit 'em again (from Improved Trip.) Then, you can take other feats for more tricks- Stand Still is nice for when they're too large to trip, Robilar's Gambit/Karmic Strike are good if they're trying to get you, Martial Study and Martial Stance are great for more versatility.

[Eldariel]

I'd get Ranger in the mix; you get skills which vastly expand the list of stuff you can do. It also gets you Rapid Shot relatively painlessly allowing you to somewhat contribute with a bow. I'd also take two levels or so of Barbarian; you can Rage as an extra option, preferably with Whirling Frenzy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#rageVariantWhirlingFrenzy ) so it can be an approximation of Whirlwind Attack. I'd also take Pounce [Complete Champion] and Improved Trip (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wolfTotemClassFeatures ) from those.

Then I'd just pick a two-handed weapon; Spiked Chain is the best option. Pick Combat Reflexes, Power Attack (for some variety), some AoO feats (you definitely want Improved Trip, hence the Wolf Totem ACF for Barbarian), some charger feats (Shock Trooper from Complete Warrior as a baseline) and then some variety; Rampaging Bull Rush from Races of Stone and Dungeoncrasher Fighter Variant from Dungeonscape. This all allows you to do a lot with Tripping, Bull Rushing and Charging.

You also have decent capabilities to contribute with a bow if necessary (provided your base Dex and Str are both high; you'll obv max out on Str leaving your bow to rely on your base Dex) giving you an overall decent ability kit. And you get to play around with Power Attack and Combat Expertise if you pick it up, and tactical positioning with Combat Reflexes hopefully leading to a rich game experience. Unfortunately, pure Core does nothing but boring (and bad) Fighters so you have to draw from outside it if you want some variety to the "I attack again"-routine. Most important is Ranger and Barbarian for skills though; skills do a ton and Fighter doesn't get any. They're the most important way for non-casters to do things other than attack. So yeah. Get skills.

[Darth Stabber]

After reading the title I almost linked you to the LGBT thread. Almost. :smalltongue:
So straight-ish fighter, does that mean heteroflexible?

Ubercharger is a fun easy build. Warblade is probably more fun, so you should really just use that if possible. If you want to know the feats for an ubercharger, just search, you should find it easy enough. As a note you probably want to splash at least 1 lvl of barbarian (with the acf that gives you pounce), unless you have another source of pounce in mind. Ubercharger just doesn't really work all that well without pounce.

[Veyr]

You really want no more than 2 levels of Fighter, probably. Especially in Core, where there are frighteningly few feats worth taking, and no ACFs.

[RaginChangeling]

If you have Dungeonscape, the Dungeoncrasher ACF that replaces the 2nd and 6th level Fighter bonus feat is great. It lets you bullrush people into walls or floors for a lot of damage, especially if you get a way to fly. A build with Fighter 6, with Dungeoncrasher, and Barbarian 4 or some prestige class like Exotic Weapons Master can give you a lot of combat options.

[Hirax]

Pretend combat is your own personal golf driving range. Except instead of golf balls, you have enemies, and instead of a golf club, you have a spiked chain.

Happy Gilmore with a spiked chain:
Bar1*/Psywar2/Fighter1/Warblade1/Fighter+1/warblade+4
Whirling frenzy variant and pounce variant!

Feats:
1: Extra rage
P1 (2nd): Power attack
P2 (3rd): practiced manifester
3: spiked chain proficiency
F1 (4th): imp bull rush
F2 (6th): shock trooper
6: leap attack
9: knockback (better than tripping imo)
W5: Combat reflexes

edit: if flaws are in play, though, you can take improved trip and knockdown if you want

edit: feel free ask for any clarifications on anything, I was unusually light on details.

[gallagher]

i would definitely go with like ranger 6/fighter2/barb2 and go with the trip build.

TWF with the knockdown feat is marvelously fun, and when they are prone they take a penalty to AC from melee

[erikun]

I feel like I should point out the Horizon Tripper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80415) build. Fairly simple, all core, and a couple of different options available to you.

[Doc Roc]

I also feel obligated to remind people that Shoutlord Shoutson exists... Intimidating Rage + Instantaneous Rage + Imperious Command on a pouncebarian frame is incredible, particularly with Never Outnumbered. He's Commander Sit-DOWN, in his professional life.