[PF] The Skilled Fighter

[jaybird]

Pathfinder, Core races only, 3rd level, 20 PB, deserted island survival, very low gear. The party is composed of 4 of us, and the other three are druid, oracle, and sorcerer. We need a front-liner/skillmonkey. The oracle and sorcerer are the exact opposite of optimizers, and the druid and I are building our characters around each other under the assumption that the rest of the party will be use-impaired.

So, how can I build a kickass frontliner (I'll have the druid's "cat, big" for support) who also has skills?

Currently, my build is:
Human Fighter (Lore Warden) 3
STR: 18
DEX: 14
CON: 14
INT: 14
WIS: 9
CHA: 7

Feats:
1: Power Attack
1H: Combat Reflexes
1F: Furious Focus
2: Improved Trip
2F: ?
2LW: Combat Expertise
3: Fury's Fall

Skill points/Level: 4+2 (Int)+1 (Human)+1 (Favoured Class)=7

In combat, I'll be standing in front of the casters and tripping anyone who tries to get in range, as well as taking on big baddies face to face when needed. Standard BSF stuff. Out of combat, I'll have the best Climb, Swim, Craft, and Know (Nature) and (Engineering) skills in the party.

Another option is a two-handed weapon Rogue using the Scout archetype to get SA on the charge, which trades the above build's battlefield control for 1st round damage and a ton more skills. Any other ideas? I'd like to stay away from spellcasting, as I'm always the party's arcanist. Thanks.

[Ailowynn]

I'd suggest one of the following instead:

Human Barbarian
STR 16 (+2=18)
DEX 12
CON 16
INT 10
WIS 10
CHA 8

Gives you higher physical scores for more damage output and HP and more skills (4+ 2 Int + 1 human + 1 favored class = 8 ranks per level) and Knowledge (nat) and Survival, IIRC. You could keep most of your feats, too.

OR

Human Ranger
STR 16 (+2=18)
DEX 12
CON 12
INT 11
WIS 10
CHA 10

With the two handed fighting style from APG. Similar feats, more skills, and bonuses to tracking: the complete package.

[grarrrg]

So, how can I build a kickass frontliner (I'll have the druid's "cat, big" for support) who also has skills?

Currently, my build is:
Human Fighter (Lore Warden) 3
STR: 18
DEX: 14
CON: 14
INT: 14
WIS: 9
CHA: 7


The first problem I see is that you are MAD, you need/want FOUR good Stats.
So we should either look for classes with better Skills (so you can drop INT), or classes that don't need 4 stats as badly.

Ranger is a good start:

Human Ranger
STR 16 (+2=18)
DEX 12
CON 12
INT 11
WIS 10
CHA 10

With the two handed fighting style from APG. Similar feats, more skills, and bonuses to tracking: the complete package.

Ranger's have 6 skills a level, which matches what you had from Lore Warden + 14 INT (and withOUT the "must be knowledge skills" thing from Lore Warden).
And you still get a good amount of bonus feats.
This also relaxes the need for a good INT score, so you can bump some other stats up a little more.
And, if you really want more Feats, you can always dip Lore Warden for a couple levels.

You might also consider using a Scimitar and taking the Dervish Dance (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/dervish-dance-combat) feat, this lets you drop STR and focus on DEX instead. As an alternative to taking 2 feats (you need Weapon Finesse to take Dervish Dance) you could just dip 1 level of Dawnflower Dervish (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/bard/archetypes/paizo---bard-archetypes/dawnflower-dervish) Bard (although that will cost you a Bab).


Some Prestige options would be:
Horizon Walker (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/e-h/horizon-walker), Full Bab, 6 skills, d10hd. Easy enough to qualify with either Ranger or Lore Warden.

If you DO go with the Lore Warden route, then I also recommend Student of War (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/s-z/student-of-war), Full Bab, 6 skills, d10hd. VERY easy to qualify with Lore Warden entry, and at 2nd level you can use your INT score instead of DEX for your AC. This lets you drop your starting DEX some, to free up points elsewhere.