Fighter Help (PF)

[BarnabasBailey]

So, I'm currently in a campaign with a bunch of other happy souls and I seem to have hit on a certain snag. Namely, that I'm the most useless and least impressive so-and-so in the gang. Much of that is a result of rather poor luck when it comes to rolls (I think I've done most, if not all, of the party's botches so far), but another major factor is that I just don't really know the class all that well. And since I'm looking at second level coming up on the horizon, I figured this would be the perfect time to ask for some advice.

See, from what I've been told, fighters do best when they are planned out in advance. And I don't have much of a plan going. Okay, that's maybe half true: my character is determined to be "the greatest swordsman in the world," by which I vaguely defined his goal as "Master all of teh swordz."

My party has shown themselves to be at least mostly capable of holding their own without and in spite of my help, so I think I'd like to tool this character for efficiency, giving him abilities that allow him to strike accurately and do damage over the normal fighter role of covering the wizard. If anyone knows any neat tricks that I might be able to pull out or any suggestions for future equipment I should be on the lookout for would be appreciated.

Here's the character sheet. (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=546657) As you can see, he's not terribly optimized for the monster slaying. He's also a vanilla fighter, no archetypes, and I was thinking of keeping him that way unless I can think of a sound reason otherwise. Thanks in advance.

[Raven777]

Suggestion :

You said your character wants to "master all teh swords". With 13 Int and 13 Cha, he also seems like a reasonably intelligent, reasonably charming fellow. Why not fluff his ambition toward being the greatest duelist ever?

To that end, I suggest...

A TWF shield bashing fighter. Grab a Light Spiked Shield (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/weapons/weapon-descriptions/spiked-shield-heavy-or-light). As feats, go for Two Weapon Fighting (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/two-weapon-fighting-combat---final). Then grab Improved Shield Bash (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/improved-shield-bash-combat---final). Eventually, pick Shield Slam (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/shield-slam-combat---final) to fling your opponents around. Of course, you also want to nab standard fare like Power Attack (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/power-attack-combat---final) at some point, ideally earlier than later. And then keep building up from there.

I also see you picked up Step Up. Why not compliment that with the Mobile Fighter (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter/archetypes/paizo---fighter-archetypes/mobile-fighter) archetype? It'll eventually let you move and full-attack in the same round, and it lets you get your maximum weapon training bonus on both weapon and shield at once as long as you keep moving around your foes, which you'll be doing most of the time anyway.

With these, you will be able to dance around the battlefield in no time, throwing pretty hard hitting attacks around while maintaining a respectable AC thanks to your shield.

If I was you, I'd ask your DM if you can replace Intimidating Prowess and Dodge, unless you want to hold onto them for roleplaying reasons. Personally, I feel skills and AC are rarely worth burning feats.

[navar100]

One problem is you are not doing a lot of damage. "Only" a 15 Strength, no Power Attack. Not every fighter needs an 18 Strength and/or Power Attack, but since you lack both you need to find a way to make up for the lack of raw power.

One solution is to focus on combat maneuvers - trip, bull rush, disarm, sunder, grappling, etc. You take one opponent out of the fight for the rest of the party because he has to deal with you. Team up with the rogue. While you occupy the bad guy, he gets free reign to do his sneak attacks. At 4th level make that Strength a 16 and consider Power Attack using a weapon two-handed to get some damage potential, because you'll still need to do significant damage eventually.

[Tock Zipporah]

You could also benefit well from choosing Combat Reflexes and getting a reach weapon. Getting additional attacks is a good way to increase your damage output if you're not a Two-handed weapon/Power Attack build. Additionally, if you build up to the http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/step-up-and-strike-combat Step up and Strike feat (since you already have Step Up), you can have the chance to get AOOs from both enemy movement AND from the feat.

Since you have dodge, you could also add Mobility and Spring Attack. Between Spring Attack and the Step Up tree, you'd be very mobile and be able to get around the battlefield and hit enemies all over.

[Gustaff]

I like it so much when I get a lvl 1 character sheet and it's not full with equipments that power players like so much to carry... it reminds me of the first time I played RPG. I feel like this game of yours is running in a really natural, smooth (maybe even naive) way; and it's been long since I played a game like that.

Just the two coppers of a player who hasn't played for a while :) try to get a better weapon/armor!

[watchwood]

The combat maneuvres aren't bad in pathfinder, but they're not fantastic either.

Look into the Step Up and Distruptive feat chains. Both will help you go a long way towards shutting down spellcasters and ranged characters, which your party will almost certainly appreciate.

[Spuddles]

What rules do you use for fumbles? If they penalize you, going TWF isn't worth it because you end up being more dangerous to yourself than your enemy.

I would recommend, at level 4, to bump your strength up to 16 and get a greatsword and go two handed smashy. Furious Focus can help you land that primary swing with your big sword.

TWF + shield bash could also be really fun, and with your stat assignment, would work out pretty well. I would still put that ability score point in strength, though.

[StreamOfTheSky]

If you have poor luck rolling, you would be better off playing a spellcaster, where you often don't have to do the rolling at all (ie, the other guy rolls the saves). Especially if you focus on buffs and no-SR spells, and possibly summons if the DM rolls for them.

If your game actually uses fumble rules of any sort, you should definitely not be a warrior at all.