Feats for E6 fighters

[Yora]

All the years I played almost only with core rules, but now I'm planning on an epic E6 campaign and when I wanted to test if 6th level characters could fight giants, I attempted to build some E6 barbarians and fighters to compare the number. But with a fighter, there's really only Weapon Focus and Specialization, Dodge, and Power Attack, and then I run out of options for feats that would be helpful. And Power Attack probably shouldn't be used, as the attack bonus is so low.
I have 18 feats to spare, and at 2nd level I already run out of options.

People said that Fighters are really not bad in E6 and a viable option, but you very soon have all the feats that are worthwhile (or at least somewhat related) to dealing out damage and surviving hits. A barbarian gets his Rage, which is nice, but then runs into the same problem very soon.

What books would you suggest with what feats, and why? Complete Warrior should obviously be helpful, but what feats in it are actually usefull in helping a martial character to overcome bigger foes?

[Zaq]

Your first job is to look not for feats, but for ACFs. You said it yourself: you have enough feats. You don't need any more. Those four Fighter bonus feats are going to be all but worthless to you. What you need are actual class features . . . which, for a Fighter, means ACFs. Dungeoncrasher (Dungeonscape) is always a winner, Aligned Strike (CChamp) is hard to replicate in E6, and Thug (Unearthed Arcana) will give you more precious skills to play with. The three of those will, if you take all of them, eat all of your bonus feats (Thug eats your 1st level feat, Dungeoncrasher eats your 2nd and 6th, and Aligned Strike eats your 4th). There are others . . . those are just the first ones I thought of.

After that? Well, Tome of Battle will get you three Martial Studies and as many Martial Stances as you qualify for (as well as the awesome Snap Kick), PHB2 has a few interesting feats, Complete Adventurer has Leap Attack for pure damage and a few more niche or utility-oriented feats if that's your thing (don't underestimate Deft Opportunist) . . . if you're into that sort of thing, you could grab the XPH, take Wild (or better, Hidden) Talent, then qualify for the nifty Psionic feats (Up the Walls, Speed of Thoughts, maybe even Deep Impact).

Hmm, what else? With that many feats to play with, you could get pretty deep in a lot of those thematic feat chains (Aberrant, Abyssal Heritor, Draconic, Fey Heritage, Incarnum, whatever), many of which feed on themselves and have wording like "for every feat with the [blah] descriptor you have, this increases by . . ." or whatever. If you don't mind mutating into a horrible mockery of life, you could snag Lords of Madness and grab as many Aberrant feats as you like, in the process gaining reach, tentacles, flight (yes, flight), water breathing, natural armor, and so on. If you like shifters, grabbing the Eberron Campaign Setting and especially Races of Eberron can get you enough Shifter feats to actually shift pretty much constantly.

Does any of that help?

[Yora]

Partially. I wonder how many ACFs would make good feats or feat-chains.

[Urpriest]

If you take the E6 feat that increases your skill caps, the Underfoot Combat line becomes an interesting possibility, especially for the giantslayers you were building.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I think you're forgetting about E6-specific the Fighter capstone feat:
Martial Veteran (General)
Prerequisites: Fighter level 6th.
Benefit: You may select feats with a requirement of up to fighter level 8, and with a Base Attack Bonus requirement of up to +8.
Special: A fighter may select Martial Veteran as one of his bonus feats.
Source (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?352719-necro-goodness-E6-The-Game-Inside-D-amp-D) (first post, inside the Spoiler: Capstone Feats)

That opens up Melee Weapon Mastery (PH2), Ranged Weapon Mastery (PH2), Greater Weapon Focus, Improved Critical, Greater Heavy Armor Optimization, etc. For four feats (Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Focus, Melee Weapon Mastery) you'll get +4 to attack and damage with your preferred weapon of choice, and +2 to attack and damage with every melee weapon that deals the same damage type. At 6th level this is a fairly significant bonus, especially considering you can Power Attack for your full BAB and probably still hit.

You definitely want to go with a race that's either Large size or gets Powerful Build, preferably Goliath (+1 LA gives you 25 point buy instead of 32 point buy, and no actual level adjustment; same link as above, second post, first FAQ spoiler). Alternatively you could use Human with the Jotunbrud feat from Races of Faerun if it would also qualify you for large-size prerequisites, which it does not specify that it does though it's similar enough to Powerful Build that it probably should. For a large size race, Half-Ogre from Races of Destiny is +2 LA (18 point buy in E6) but a much better choice would be Half-Minotaur from Dragon 313 (+1 LA), but it's unfairly powerful for what it grants (Str +12, Dex -2, Con +6, Int -2, +4 natural armor, +10 ft. movement, Darkvision, Scent, Cunning, Track, a Gore attack, etc.).

You'll be using the Dungeoncrasher ACF in Dungeonscape which replaces your Fighter 2 and 6 bonus feats for some unfair bonus damage any time you bull rush someone into a solid obstacle. Get Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, and Knockback from Races of Stone (requires Large size or Powerful Build), so every time you hit using Power Attack you get a free Bull Rush check to knock them away. If you knock them into a wall, or preferably if you're flying above them and knock them toward the ground, you deal an extra 8d6+(3x Str bonus) damage on every attack.

With so many extra feats and the availability of Greater Heavy Armor Optimization, you should probably consider picking up Wild/Hidden Talent or even Warped Mind (LoM) to qualify for Psionic feats. Get Deflective Armor (RoS) and your heavy armor's AC bonus will apply to your touch AC when you're psionically focused. Get Up The Walls (XPH/SRD) and the Corner Perch skill trick (CS) and you can attack opponents from overhead to Dungeoncrash them against the floor.

For something completely different with nearly as much damage potential, this E6 Fighter build (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11321067&postcount=19) is small size and gets a +4 Dodge bonus to AC against Giants. Get the feat Titan Fighting in RoS and you get that +4 Dodge bonus against any opponent bigger than you are (Medium or larger) that you designate as the target of your Dodge feat. Note that the Speed weapon property is available in E6, so this character ccould be making six attacks per round instead of the four mentioned there.

[Midnight_v]

I suggest Jack B.Quick, or a little lockdown build for you.
Basically you're going to use karmicstrike and double hit. You lose overwheming assault though, but you'll still get to use standstill.
karmic strike is in the complete warrior.
Standstill is in the Srd
Double hit is in the mini handbook
Evasive reflexes/Sidestep Are decent defensive feats.
Effectivly stopping full attacks sometimes.
If you go the jack be quick route you'll be using the high sword low axe technique and whatever prereqs it asks for.

Laslty, you can always pick up a bow. :)