More Interesting Fighter Builds (PF)

[genderlich]

I'm on a quest to play every base class in Pathfinder. I'm hoping to be able to try out Fighter soon if either my Druid or Witch die (the latter is looking pretty likely, unfortunately). So I'm preemptively planning a character mechanics-wise. Thing is, every recommended Fighter build is either an Archer or a two-handed Power Attacker (or sometimes a Spiked Chain tripper, which is a little cheesy for me). I get that it's the most effective from a sheer numbers standpoint, but it's boring and I've played both those character types before with different classes. (Paladin for archery, Barbarian and Oracle for 2H smasher.) With the amount of feats the class gets it should be easy to have a really interesting/different combat style. Sword-and-board is largely crap as everyone knows (although I think it was Rogue Eidolon's handbook that had a pretty decent build, but it seems like it still sucks until level 10 or so), and I'm always underwhelmed by traditional two-weapon fighting.

In short, what are your most interesting (preferably single-classed) Fighter build suggestions? It should still be good in a fight, obviously, but I still want it to be unique, and being actually fun to play is the #1 priority, especially at lower levels since few of my games ever go above level 9 or so. Preferably with a weapon used less often than a Greatsword. Thanks in advance.

Right now I'm considering using a Rapier and Short-Sword and taking levels in Duelist. I also like the look of a master of thrown weapons, but I'm unsure how good it can be.

What about a feat tree with Throw Anything, Quick Draw, Two-Handed Thrower, and Sliding Axe Throw? Chuck Greataxes at the full rate and trip with every attack. Hmm... might look ridiculous with all those giant axes on my back. May be really feat-heavy as well. Interesting idea, though.

You know what, let's examine that a bit just to see if it's viable. Here's the first draft of the feat tree:

Human: Throw Anything
1: Quick Draw
F1: Sliding Axe Throw
F2: Two-Handed Thrower
3: Point-Blank Shot
F4: Combat Expertise
5: Improved Trip
F6: Rapid Shot
7: Power Attack
F8: Greater Trip
9: Distance Thrower
F10: Critical Mastery (Greataxe)
etc. Mostly critical feats, probably.

The key, to me, to the build is the exact wording of Sliding Axe Throw: "You can choose to take a –2 penalty on a ranged attack roll **with an axe**..." which implies to me that it can be used with any weapon in the Axe group, not just throwing axes.

It looks like you'd need a 15 Str, 13 Dex, and 13 Int, at a bare minimum. So not too bad, actually. Still, you'll be strictly subpar until probably level 8, and you'd probably do better just smashing people with all your axes. It's a cool thought experiment if nothing else. If I had a few more feats I'd try to do it by dual-wielding Dwarven Waraxes - could drop Two-Handed Thrower for Exotic Weapon Proficiency, but then you'd still need all the Two-Weapon Fighting feats. Not viable, too bad.

[Slipperychicken]

The Mongol.

I thought up a mounted archer which uses Eldritch Heritage and Boon companion to gain an Animal Companion mount (whose advancement is only 1 level behind). Mounted Combat/Archery aren't really necessary because he can already move up to his mount's speed while full-attacking without penalty, and if we're doing it right and get Horseshoes of Speed and the Racer archetype for the AC, that can be upwards of 100 feet per round, more than enough to outpace most charging foes. We're choosing from the full AC list, so we might as well get a really fast flying one. This makes our Fighter an incredible skirmisher and more than negating the basic weakness of archery: mobility.

Human Fighter, Weapon Master Archetype (Composite Longbow).

Human Bonus Precise Shot
Lvl1 Skill Focus(Know (Nature)) -> prereq for Eldritch Heritage
F1 Precise Shot
F2 Rapid Shot
lvl3 Eldritch Heritage (Sylvan) => Animal Companion -5, minimum 1
F4 Weapon Focus (+1 to hit)
lvl5 Boon Companion= Animal Companion goes to only level -1
F6 Manyshot
lvl7 Weapon Spec (+2 dmg)
F8 Weapon Focus, Greater (+1 to hit)
lvl9 Clustered Shots
F10 ehh
lvl11 Improved Precise Shot.
F12 Greater Weapon Spec (+2 dmg)
lvl13 ehh
F14 ehh


My first build of this guy had him as a Goblin mercenary from a mongol-ripoff steppe tribe. Small size's number bonuses don't make up for the lost feat on their own, and the racial ability modifiers cancel out, but fitting in a Medium space (using a medium mount like a giant wasp, Roc, pony, or kangaroo) will make things much easier in a real game.

A Ranger version of this concept would have lower tohit and damage, but get Improved Precise Shot at 6th level, and be useful outside combat.

[grarrrg]

I've got 1 idea for Straight Fighter, the basics are here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=12954877#post12954877), but given that the original build was Monk/Rogue, there are obviously some revisions to do.
On the bright side, UNlike the Monk/Rogue version, you have more Bonus feats to work with.


Make an Unarmed crazy Stomping maniac.
Brawler Fighter (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter/archetypes/paizo---fighter-archetypes/brawler) trades normal Weapon Training for "Close weapons only", but you get an extra +2 damage with them, AND the bonuses start at level 3 instead of 5.

Focus on Tripping.

Key feats are Greater Trip (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/greater-trip-combat---final): whenever you Trip an opponent, you get to make an AoO against them.
Viscious Stomp (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/vicious-stomp-combat): Whenever an opponent falls prone you get to make one free Unarmed AoO against them.

Obviously, DEX is key in order to make multiple AoO's in one round, so it's up to you if you want to Split STR/DEX or focus mainly on DEX.
If going the DEX route, then Fury's Fall (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/fury-s-fall-combat), and the Agile (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/magic-weapon-special-abilities/agile) Weapon enchantment will be of use.

To get around the problem of Unarmed Strikes + Weapon enchantments, make use of the humble Gauntlet (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/weapons/weapon-descriptions/gauntlet).

[Slipperychicken]

To get around the problem of Unarmed Strikes + Weapon enchantments, make use of the humble Gauntlet (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/weapons/weapon-descriptions/gauntlet).

Cestus (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/weapons/weapon-descriptions/cestus) has a bigger damage die (d4), 19-20 crit range, and you can switch between bludgeoning and piercing. It's a straight-up superior weapon. Don't kid yourself on the "-2 to precision based tasks bit", you're a fighter.


EDIT: Wait, there's no explicit text to say they count as unarmed strikes. How could they miss that?! :smallannoyed:

[Metahuman1]

Play a Gnome or a halfling. By a Pony or a Riding Dog at low levels. By a lance and a shield. Take Power attack and mounted feats.

Later upgrade mounts as needed.


If you can figure out a way to charge and get a full attack while mounted and to cut down on weapons costs, consider TWF with a dagger or a short sword. (Or maybe a Longsword or Scimitar if there's a feat for that in Pathfinder.)

[BTB]

I don't know about straight fighter, I personally enjoy TWF with two light shields, but it's not the bery best. If you're willing to take two levels in Alchemist however...

How do you feel about a natural weapon fighter based around tentacles and grappling? I can throw together a level 8 build if you like. It's quite mean, and of course very rapey.

[zlefin]

sword n board fighters aren't THAT bad. It somewhat depends on situation though; as well as how the dm plays monsters.
Getting a sword and board to the point where all cr appropriate monsters can only hit his ac on a 20 is pretty feasible; now that may not rule in games of rocket tag; but in earlier scenarios where you're facing goblinoids and monstrous humanoids that can be handy. It depends how smart monsters are about walking past you to hit other things; and where you're fighting; dungeons often have passageways that aren't that wide, or doors to use as chokepoints, where a high ac char holding the line makes it easy to rain ranged death on the opponents.

[BTB]

Presenting my Tentacle monster. Levels are Vivisectionist 2/Lore Warden 6 (Alch and Fighter resepectively). Race is Hobgoblin.

1: Improved Unarmed Strike
2: Discovery: Tentacle
3: Start in fighter. Feats are Weapon Finesse and Extra Discovery: Tentacle
4:Fighter Bonus Feat for Agile Maneuvers
5: Extra Discovery: Tentacle
6: Improved Grapple
7: Extra Discovery: Tentacle
8: Greater grapple

If you place more value on damage, feel free to wait longer to take the graple line. Attributes are STR: 7, DEX: 22, CON: 16, INT: 7, WIS: 16, CHA: 7. THrow some points into INT if you want to take more advantage of lore warden, I just took it for maneuver mastery. Be sure to pick up amulet of mighty fists for agile.

Attack routine is 4 tentacles at +14 to hit for 1d4+7 damage each, before alchemist mutagen or other things such as equipment. Not super impressive for damage, due to lack of power attack from being DEX based. Probably has the build points to work better as a STR build, honestly, but I picture tentacles as dextrous. Max stealth. Have fun.

[Slipperychicken]

Presenting my Rape beast.

Mods don't like mentioning that sort of thing explicitly. Also, I'm willing to bet anyone on this site can make the mental leap if you just called it something like "anime tentacle monster".

[BTB]

Fixed my error with great apologies. Far too nonchalant these days.

[bobthehero]

I am going to play an hybrid sword and board/2h.

Going weapon master with the longsword and pure fighter, and pumping everything on the longsword.

I think I'll have enough feats to be able to do some damage, power attack is a must, the rest of the feats will go in shield related stuff, probably bashing.

The way I do it is that when something targets me I keep the shield up and am still able to dish out some damage, with all the benefits from the archetype still present, whenever I am not the target, I drop the shield and use the sword with 2 hands, get the extra damage in and still get the archetype bonuses.

Not sure how viable is that (probably gonna be something like can do a lot of things with average skill, good at nothing :smallannoyed:), but I can't go back from Weapon Master, since I already asked the DM to change me from a bog standard fighter to WM.

[marcielle]

Man, the axe chucker sounds fun. Anyway, does the DM allow monster races? Is the Strix one of them? Then there's the the Airborn Ambusher, a racial archetype for the Strix. It basically gives you spring attack really early and flight to (ab)use it with. But the beauty happens when combined with Dervish of Dawnflower and a reach weapon. Forever flitting about around earthbound enemies and keeping up with flying enemies, you are a constant harrier. One who gets to make full attacks in the middle of move actions later on. You can grab a Lucerne and strike like a meteor or grab a mancatcher and hoist medium/small enemies up high, rendering them helpless. Even if they escape the grapple, the fall, maybe prone too. TWF and become a tornado of steel. And then there's the spiked chain trick, but now, when you trip them, they fall up? Point is, everything is better when you have flight and tons of mobility.
But srsly, reach, flight, speed. And hovering while full attacking is also a good option, since if they try to 5 ft while you are 5 ft above them, they are STILL in full attack range(assuming you threaten the 3x3 below you).

ps. Dervish is way better with TWF. Heck, you only need Flyby for this so you can work up to the feat intensive crit builds if you like.

[soveliss24]

Sword-and-board is largely crap as everyone knows (although I think it was Rogue Eidolon's handbook that had a pretty decent build, but it seems like it still sucks until level 10 or so)

...few of my games ever go above level 9 or so.

I wouldn't say Sword-and-board is crap at low levels. The AC can actually matter in early game, and PF throws S&B a few bones compared to 3.5. It's still not optimized, but you can make it into a fun character if you don't think you're going to be leveling very high.

[navar100]

Would you accept archetypes to count for a base class in your quest? If yes, the two-weapon style archetype facilitates fighting with two weapons at the cost of armor training. In short, you revert to 3E rules for heavy armor use.

[Eldonauran]

You could go with the Viking (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter/archetypes/paizo---fighter-archetypes/viking) archetype for the fighter.

You end up getting better AC from any shield you equip and you trade off weapon training to Rage like a barbarian equal to your fighter level -3 (at level 4, rage like a level 1 barbarian). At sixth level, you get the option to trade fighter feats for rage powers.

You'll lose bravery, but gain a neat intimidate bonus instead, usable as a move action (then swift and then free, but still once per round).

[Slipperychicken]

You end up getting better AC from any shield you equip and you trade off weapon training to Rage like a barbarian equal to your fighter level -3 (at level 4, rage like a level 1 barbarian). At sixth level, you get the option to trade fighter feats for rage powers.

You'll lose bravery, but gain a neat intimidate bonus instead, usable as a move action (then swift and then free, but still once per round).

The real reason to go Viking is the Rage Powers. Presumably, you can (or at least should be able to) also take Extra Rage Power with your normal feats and load up on any that are useful to your concept (like nabbing Unexpected Strike, Knockdown, and Come and Get Me for a high-level AoO-based build or a tripper). Also, one would hope that Fighter levels were also considered Barbarian level-3 for Rage Power prereqs.

It'd probably go something like Oracle1 (for the Lame curse rage-cycle)/Viking19, with a high Dex score, Combat Reflexes, IUS, Vicious Stomp, Unexpected Strike, Knockdown, Come and Get Me, Raging Vitality, Power Attack, Reckless Rage, Step Up, the Weapon Focus/Specialization tree, and so on. Anyone does anything near you, they provoke from you and get beaten to death. Raging Vitality helps give you a nice big sack of HP to play with, so you don't have to worry much about having Come and Get Me on, and having the weapon spec/focus feats make your attacks sting a little more.

[Chained Birds]

It'd probably go something like Oracle1 (for the Lame curse rage-cycle)/Viking19, with a high Dex score, Combat Reflexes, IUS, Vicious Stomp, Unexpected Strike, Knockdown, Come and Get Me, Raging Vitality, Power Attack, Reckless Rage, Step Up, the Weapon Focus/Specialization tree, and so on. Anyone does anything near you, they provoke from you and get beaten to death. Raging Vitality helps give you a nice big sack of HP to play with, so you don't have to worry much about having Come and Get Me on, and having the weapon spec/focus feats make your attacks sting a little more.

If you are going high enough to gain the Internal Fortitude (Lvl 8 Barbarian Rage Power, so presumably at least a Level 11 Viking), then simply choose that power and purchase a Flawed Scarlet and Green Cabochon (Ioun Stone).

Scarlet and Green Cabochon (Ioun Stone)
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 12th

Slot none; Price: 10,000 gp; Weight —.

DESCRIPTION
This stone grants you the Endurance feat.

Cracked: This stone grants a +4 bonus on one type of check affected by the Endurance feat. Price: 1,400 gp.

Flawed: This stone grants the wearer the Endurance feat. Anything that would make the wearer fatigued instead makes him sickened. Anything that would make the wearer exhausted instead makes him nauseated. Price: 8,000 gp.

Internal Fortitude (Ex)
Prerequisite: Barbarian 8

Benefit: While raging, the barbarian is immune to the sickened and nauseated conditions.

A Fighter has feats to spare, so gaining this Rage Power so he can rage cycle all he wants is a pretty good plan IMO. And no dipping into Oracle either!

[Eldonauran]

**snip**

Oh, yes. I compelety agree. I don't even think there should be doubt as to whether a a Viking qualifies for the Exra Rage Power feat, let alone if they can qualify for rage powers with a listed barbarian level.

What is the Viking's barbarian level?

At 4th level, a viking gains the rage ability as the barbarian class feature, but her barbarian level is considered to be her fighter level –3.

This ability replaces weapon training 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Can they take the Extra Rage Power feat?

Extra Rage Power

Prerequisite: Rage power class feature.

Benefit: You gain one additional rage power. You must meet all of the prerequisites for this rage power.

Special: You can gain Extra Rage Power multiple times.

Starting at 6th level, whenever a viking gains a fighter bonus feat, she can instead choose to gain a single rage power, as the barbarian class feature, in place of the bonus feat. Once selected, these rage powers cannot be changed.

The Viking and Barbarian class feature that grant access to rage powers are named the same thing, "Rage Powers (Ex)".

[Slipperychicken]

If you are going high enough to gain the Internal Fortitude (Lvl 8 Barbarian Rage Power, so presumably at least a Level 11 Viking), then simply choose that power and purchase a Flawed Scarlet and Green Cabochon (Ioun Stone).


Don't forget to stick that thing into a Wayfinder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/r-z/wayfinder-standard) (might as well make it a Shining Wayfinder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/r-z/wayfinder-standard/wayfinder-shining) if you're Good for the at-will Detect Evil), and hide it somewhere it can't be targeted.

My way is less item-dependent, though.



The Viking and Barbarian class feature that grant access to rage powers are named the same thing, "Rage Powers (Ex)".

Very nice. It looks like Vikings have potential for mid/high-level play.

[Chained Birds]

Don't forget to stick that thing into a Wayfinder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/r-z/wayfinder-standard) (might as well make it a Shining Wayfinder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/r-z/wayfinder-standard/wayfinder-shining) if you're Good for the at-will Detect Evil), and hide it somewhere it can't be targeted.

My way is less item-dependent, though.

Another item I have never seen.

[Eldonauran]

Another item I have never seen.

Yes, Wayfinders are amazing!

[Slipperychicken]

Another item I have never seen.

D&D is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

[grarrrg]

D&D is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

This! IS! SPARTA!! PATHFINDER!!

Still a valid point however.