Fighters and Feats, retooled [PEACH]

[Krellen]

I've been thinking up a bit on the way Fighters - and their feats - work. Some of the "standard" Fighter feats - Weapon Focus, Specialisation, Improved Critical, etc. - just don't seem to work right.

First, I'll tackle Weapon Focus; as written, it's a feat worth 300 gp (the cost of making a weapon masterwork.) As a counter example, the various skill-boost feats are worth 1200 gp (the cost of a +2 bonus to two skills; 900 gp for Skill Focus). Clearly, Weapon Focus is undervalued. At 1st level, it's bonus is significant - it doubles a Fighter's combat ability! But at 20th, it's virtually useless: a mere 5% bonus to combat ability. That level of decay is too steep.

Weapon Specialisation inadequately reflects the bonuses a "specialist" should truly have, as well. I've retooled its bonuses as well. I've also made it not a fighter-only feat: the reason for this will become clear when I get to the Fighter himself.

Of course, changes to these two base feats require changes to their Greater versions as well, so I've included those.

Weapon Focus [General]
Choose one type of weapon, such as greataxe. You can also choose unarmed strike or grapple (or ray, if you are a spellcaster) as your weapon for the purposes of this feat. You are especially good at using this weapon. (If you have chosen ray, you are especially good with rays, such as the one produced by the ray of frost spell.)
Prerequisites: Proficiency with selected weapon, base attack bonus +1.
Benefits: You gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls you make using the selected weapon. If you gain iterative attacks from a high base attack bonus, this bonus becomes +2 on the second attack, +3 on the third attack, and +4 on the fourth.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new type of weapon.
A fighter may select Weapon Focus as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Weapon Specialisation [General]
Choose one type of weapon, such as greataxe, for which you have already selected the Weapon Focus feat. You can also choose unarmed strike or grapple as your weapon for purposes of this feat. You are especially skilled with this weapon.
Prerequisites: Proficiency with selected weapon, Weapon focus with selected weapon, base attack bonus +4.
Benefits: You gain a +2 bonus on all damage rolls with the selected weapon. In addition, when it is beneficial to you (such as resisting a disarm), you may consider the selected weapon as one "step" larger than normal (thus, a light weapon is treated as one-handed, and a one-handed weapon as two-handed. A two-handed weapon remains two-handed.) This does not change the base damage of the weapon, nor allow you to apply more of your Strength bonus to damage. This does allow you to utilise the Power Attack feat with a light weapon, however.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new type of weapon.
A fighter may select Weapon Specialisation as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Greater Weapon Focus [General]
Choose one type of weapon, such as greataxe, for which you have already selected the Weapon Focus feat. You can also choose unarmed strike or grapple as your weapon for purposes of this feat. You are exceptionally skilled with this weapon.
Prerequisites: Proficiency with selected weapon, Weapon Focus with selected weapon, fighter level 8th.
Benefits: You gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls you make using the selected weapon. If you gain iterative attacks from a high base attack bonus, this bonus becomes +2 on the second attack, +3 on the third attack, and +4 on the fourth. This bonus stacks with other bonuses on attack rolls, including the one from Weapon Focus.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new type of weapon.
A fighter may select Greater Weapon Focus as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Greater Weapon Specialisation [General]
Choose one type of weapon, such as greataxe, for which you have already selected the Weapon Specialisation feat. You can also choose unarmed strike or grapple as your weapon for purposes of this feat. You are exceptionally skilled with this weapon.
Prerequisites: Proficiency with selected weapon, Weapon Focus with selected weapon, Weapon Specialisation with selected weapon, Greater Weapon Focus with selected weapon, fighter level 12th.
Benefits: You gain a +2 bonus on all damage rolls you make using the selected weapon. This bonus stacks with other bonuses on damage rolls, including the one from Weapon Specialisation. In addition, you may treat this weapon as light, one-handed or two-handed, whichever is most beneficial to you. This allows you to deal one-and-a-half times your Strength damage with a one-handed or light weapon, or utilise the Weapon Finesse feat with a two-handed or one-handed weapon. It does not change how many hands are actually required to wield the weapon.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new type of weapon.
A fighter may select Greater Weapon Specialisation as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Virtually every Fighter takes these feats. Based upon the basic rule that a feat taken by every member of a class should be a class feature instead, I present the retooled Fighter:

Fighter

Over the course of an adventuring career, most adventurers adopt - and eventually master - one style of combat, focusing on one or two specific weapons. But where most adventurers leave time to develop other skills, the Fighter devotes himself wholly to combat, mastering many styles and many weapons over the course of his career. Anyone can master a single weapon; the Fighter seeks to master them all.

Fighter
{table=head]Level|
Base Attack Bonus|Fort|Ref|Will|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+0|Bonus feat
2nd|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+0|Bonus feat

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+1|Signature Weapon

4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+1|Bonus feat

5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+1|Signature Weapon

6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+2|
+2|Bonus feat

7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+2|
+2|Signature Weapon

8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+2|
+2|Bonus feat

9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+3|
+3|Signature Weapon

10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+3|
+3|Bonus feat

11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+3|
+3|Signature Weapon

12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+4|
+4x|Bonus feat

13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+4|
+4|Signature Weapon

14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+4|
+4|Bonus feat

15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+5|
+5|Signature Weapon

16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+5|
+5|Bonus feat

17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+5|Signature Weapon

18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+6|
+6|Bonus feat

19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+6|
+6|Signature Weapon

20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+6|
+6|Bonus feat[/table]

Signature Weapon: Starting at level 3, and every two levels after that, the Fighter can adapt his fighting style to incorporate a more diverse arsenal. He may apply the benefits of any weapon-specific feats he possesses (Greater Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Specialisation, Improved Critical, Weapon Focus, and Weapon Specialisation) to an additional weapon. For example, Arick has Weapon Focus with the greataxe. At 3rd level, he chooses the longbow as a signature weapon; he now gains the benefits of Weapon Focus with both his greataxe and his longbow.
If the Fighter does not already possess these feats, he insteads gains them as bonus feats with the following progression:

{table=head]Level|
Bonus Feat

3rd| Weapon Focus

5th| Weapon Specialisation

9th| Greater Weapon Focus

11th| Improved Critical

13th| Greater Weapon Specialisation[/table]

He gains a Signature Weapon as normal at levels 7, 15, 17 and 19.

[Matthew]

Interesting idea this. So, you end up with a +9 AB by the time you reach Fighter 16, but only +4 DB?

I would have thought it should have worked out to +8 AB and +16 DB to be consistant, really.

It's quite a nice idea to allow a Character to treat adjust his Power Attack dividends.

Weapon Proficiency Groups might make the Signature Weapon Class Feature a bit powerful, though?

[Krellen]

Weapon Proficiency Groups might make the Signature Weapon Class Feature a bit powerful, though?
They would, which would suggest that you probably shouldn't combine the two. Weapon Groups are optional.

[Matthew]

Unfortunate, since Weapon Proficiency Groups are such a good idea for Fighters.

[Roderick_BR]

Ah, a constant way of advancing Weapon Focus. That works fine.
The Specialization feats sounds a bit confusing at first, but I guess they could work without problems too.

[Krellen]

Interesting idea this. So, you end up with a +9 AB by the time you reach Fighter 16, but only +4 DB?

I would have thought it should have worked out to +8 AB and +16 DB to be consistant, really.
+8 and +4, really, while making two-weapon and sword-and-board far more competitive (outshining, really) with two-handed weapons. The reason I focused on AB and not damage is that I don't think there's a particular lack of damage at higher levels of ability, but there is a lack of precision.

Thinking about it more, it might be better as a +2/+4/+6/+8 attack bonus bonus - larger bonuses applying to progressive iterative attacks, thus reducing how much bonus you get on the first attack while still increasing overall accuracy. I'm not sure how to word that in the feat text, though.

[Matthew]

Well, you could just word it so that Improved Weapon Focus causes Weapon Focus Bonuses to be doubled.

[Krellen]

That doesn't accomplish what I mean, though. What I'm saying is that instead of netting a +28/+23/+18/+13 routine with your Weapon Focus at level 20, you'd instead have a +22/+19/+16/+13 routine. Not quite so crazy at the top end, while still offering a substantial bonus to the bottom.

[Matthew]

I see. That is a trickier thing to word. How about something like: +X after each iterative attack per round?

[Krellen]

I was thinking maybe:
"You gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls you make using the selected weapon. If you gain iterative attacks from a high base attack bonus, this bonus doubles on the second attack, triples on the third attack, and quadruples on the fourth."
Alternatively:
"You gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls you make using the selected weapon. If you gain iterative attacks from a high base attack bonus, this bonus becomes +2 on the second attack, +3 on the third attack, and +4 on the fourth."

[Golthur]

I was thinking maybe:
"You gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls you make using the selected weapon. If you gain iterative attacks from a high base attack bonus, this bonus doubles on the second attack, triples on the third attack, and quadruples on the fourth."
Alternatively:
"You gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls you make using the selected weapon. If you gain iterative attacks from a high base attack bonus, this bonus becomes +2 on the second attack, +3 on the third attack, and +4 on the fourth."
The second one is easier for me to parse, mentally :smile:

[Fax Celestis]

And it makes more sense.

[Krellen]

Alright, editted the changes up above. Any more comments or critiques?