A Quick Fighter Fix [PEACH... just out of curiosity]

[nonsi]

This for me is not the fix to end all Fighter fixes, but it’s definitely a decent quick-fix that takes care of many of the Fighter’s issues (not including not having spells, (Sp) or (Su) abilities, of course)

So for anyone how might find it of any use . . .


A Quick Fighter Fix

HD: d12

Good Saves: Fort & Will (remember this is a Fighter, not a dumb grunt)

Skill points per level: 4 + INT-mod
Class skills: Balance, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (dungeoneering / geography / history / local / nobility and royalty), Listen, Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival and Swim.

{table=head]Level|Special
1st| Bonus Feat, Battle Clarity (Ref saves) 1
2nd|Bonus Feat
3rd|Battle Ardor (Crit) 1
4th|Bonus Feat, Elusive Attack 3
5th|Uncanny Dodge 2
6th|Bonus Feat
7th|Battle Cunning (damage) 1
8th|Bonus Feat
9th|Mettle 4
10th|Bonus Feat, Counterattack 3
11th|Battle Skill (opposed checks) 1
12th|Bonus Feat
13th|Improved Uncanny Dodge 2
14th|Bonus Feat
15th|Battle Mastery (AoOs) 1
16th|Bonus Feat, Overpowering Attack 3
17th|Impetuous Endurance 5
18th|Bonus Feat
19th|Improved Mettle 6
20th|Bonus Feat
[/table]

1 See the ToB Warblade. The ability is Int, Wis or Dex based – player’s choice.
2 See the core Barb.
3 See the PHB II Fighter ACF.
4 See the CW Hexblade
5 See the PHB II Knight.
6 Same as Imp. Evasion, but for Mettle.


ACF: Unfettered
Apply the following changes:
1. Heavy armor, medium armor, tower shield and shield proficiency are swapped for 6 SkPts / level and the following skills as class-skills: Bluff, Escape Artist, Gather Information, Hide, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand, Tumble and Use Rope.
2. Instead of Mettle and Improved Mettle, Unfettered Warriors gain Evasion and Improved Evasion respectively.



One extra multi-attack rule to aid all melees:
As a full round action, you can make use of all your attacks while moving up to your speed, targeting anyone within reach you see fit to attack.
Your movement provokes AoOs as usual.



And a handful of useful feats:

Armor Mastery: Medium [General]
Requirements: BAB +4, STR 15+, Medium Armor Proficiency
Benefit: Medium armor no longer hinders your base land speed and your max-DEX increases by +1 when wearing any type of light/medium armor.

Armor Mastery: Heavy [General]
Requirements: BAB +9, STR 19+, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Armor Mastery (medium)
Benefit: Heavy armor no longer hinders your base land speed and your max-DEX increases by +1 when wearing any type of armor (stacking with Armor Mastery (medium)).

Brutal Strike [General]
Requirements: Str 17+, BAB +6
Benefit: Whenever using PA, if your attack hits and deals damage, the struck foe must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC [10 + 1/2 BAB + STR-mod]) or be Sickened for 1 round.
If you hit a foe twice or more in the same round, a 2nd failure means the target s Nauseated for 1 round and then Sickened for the next round.

Close Combat Archery [General]
Requirements: BAB +6, Precise Shot, Shot on the Run
Benefit: You can attack with a Bow (any type) or tossed objects even while threatened and not provoke AoOs.

Covering Fire [General]
Requirements: Base Ref Save +3, Weapon Proficiency (any bow / crossbow), Rapid Shot / Rapid Reload (respectively)
Benefit: As a swift action, you can designate a 60-degree cone area within your weapon's range increment or 30ft (whichever's greater) where you can react to opponents' movement or attack. If the opportunity arises and your shot hits, the target suffers -10ft penalty to its speed or -2 on its next attack (depending on the action that triggered your attack), and cannot take swift/immediate actions until after its next turn.

Mobile Assault [General]
Requirements: Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack
Benefit: When making full round multiple attacks you may take 5ft steps before, in between and after each attack, as long as the total distance doesn’t exceed your base movement speed. You may take two 5ft steps in a row, trading your attack for your second 5ft step.

[jiriku]

Mmmm... not bad. I think you meant Improved Evasion, not Improved Reversion.

The trouble with simple fighter fixes, though, is that they don't tackle the two chief issues that fighter struggle with
1) Because fighters get nearly all of their power from feats, and because a good trick usually requires a 3-5 feat investment, fighters never learn many good tricks.
2) Because fighters get nearly all of their power from feats, and because most feats are balanced for levels 1-8, high-level fighters struggle to have any level-appropriate tricks.

The only way to really fix this is to rewrite an awful lot of feats, and to write a whole bunch of new ones that are very high-powered. Which of course falls outside the scope of a "quick" fighter fix.

[nonsi]

Mmmm... not bad. I think you meant Improved Evasion, not Improved Reversion.

Of course :smallredface:
Thanks.
Fixed.



The trouble with simple fighter fixes, though, is that they don't tackle the two chief issues that fighter struggle with
1) Because fighters get nearly all of their power from feats, and because a good trick usually requires a 3-5 feat investment, fighters never learn many good tricks.
2) Because fighters get nearly all of their power from feats, and because most feats are balanced for levels 1-8, high-level fighters struggle to have any level-appropriate tricks.

I said it wasn't my dream Fighter fix, but...
Just the Warblade's stuff give it some serious edge.
The PHB II stuff add some defensive & offensive options.
The remaining features increase its defensive capabilities dramatically.
With the added full attack rule, ole' quick'n'dirty FF gains its so badly needed mobility (guess full attack as a standard action could fit in there as well - good call, btw).

Now take the Unfettered option and you've got quite a skillful Swashbuckler on steroids. Add Superior Unarmed Strike and you've got a well formed martial artist (choosing between Dex, Int & Wis for the Warblade's features would determine your martial arts style - mostly flavor stuff but it also prevents shoehorning the Fighter into the ultra genius niche).

Now Mr. FF probably functions at mid-high levels at least as well as any 2 well-coordinated core fighters could.
Now take Improved Dungeon Crasher and as many Combat Form & Tactical feats you can put your hands on and FF barely reminds the core Fighter.



The only thing I think to be worth considering regarding this fix is to rotate Battle Cunning with Battle Skill & Battle Mastery (pushing it to level 15).
At mid-low levels the Fighter's damage output is decent compared to others, but the edge in opposed checks & AoOs 4 levels earlier could improve its battlefield control significantly.




the only way to really fix this is to rewrite an awful lot of feats, and to write a whole bunch of new ones that are very high-powered. Which of course falls outside the scope of a "quick" fighter fix.

This seems to me like an inevitability no matter what course of action you'd choose to follow.