Help me help my fighter!

[Dormammu]

I've got a Dwarven Fighter in my party that's about to hit level 12. And I need to figure out what feats to recommend to him. He likes to keep things simple and will forget to add bonuses if I don't remind him. Therefore he's unlikely to take something outside of Core unless the rules for it are really simple and easy to remember He's also not interested in PrC's or Cross-class. This guy will probably go straight fighter.

I don't know what to recommend to him in the way of Feats.

He's too low Int for Combat Expertise and that tree, and he's only got a Dex of 12 so unless he gets a stat boosting item (Most of his slots are now full) he's not going to qualify for Dodge etc. He also doesn't seem interested in Bull rushing, or Sundering, again the rules are too annoying for him to bother with.

I don't have access to his sheet right now but I know he's got:

Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Weapon Focus (Dwarven Waraxe), and Weapon Specialization ((Dwarven Waraxe), Quick Draw, Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Guess which weapon), Greater Weapon Focus (Loves that Waraxe), Some other feat I don't remember.

Equipment: A +1, Intelligent, Frost, Bane (Fire Sub-type) Dwarven Waraxe, it can Detect Evil at will, Quench (as a Frost Brand), and Fly with it's wielder once per week.
A shield of Energy Immunity (from the Magic Item Compendium).
+1 Full plate with some enchantment that punches back when he's damaged (also from the Magic Item Compendium)
Boots of speed.
Belt of +? STR
A helm of Comprehend Languages


Thoughts?

[(Un)Inspired]

Ai yaaaa. That's rough. How about the item familiar feat? It's give him some more skill points each level (effectively) and you could give him some more special abilities through it. Make that waraxe he loves his familiar.

If that's too complicated then... Maybe iron will? It's just a flat bonus to what must be an abysmal will score. Core kinda has a dearth of good feats.

[Dormammu]

Core kinda has a dearth of good feats.

Hence my dilemma. It doesn't HAVE to be core, but if it's not going to be core the mechanic should be straightforward and easy to remember.

I like the Item Familiar idea, since I'm the one tracking the intricacies of the super-magical axe.

Anything that might grant an extra attack would be good, since he likes to roll attacks.

[fishyfishyfishy]

Melee Weapon Mastery from PHB2 gives another +2 attack and damage. Not optimal but it goes along with his current feats. Have him work towards Weapon Supremacy at 18th level. Maybe suggest Improved Unarmed Strike, Superior Unarmed Strike, and Snap Kick? That way he can full attack with his axe and get a bonus unarmed attack.

[Darrin]

Anything that might grant an extra attack would be good, since he likes to roll attacks.

TWF + Oversized TWF (Complete Adventurer), so he can dual-wield a pair of dwarven waraxes. "Yo dawg, I heard you like waraxes..."

[fishyfishyfishy]

TWF + Oversized TWF (Complete Adventurer), so he can dual-wield a pair of dwarven waraxes. "Yo dawg, I heard you like waraxes..."

He needs Dex 15 for Two Weapon Fighting or I would have suggested something similar.

[Darrin]

He needs Dex 15 for Two Weapon Fighting or I would have suggested something similar.

Whoops. Should have noticed that.

Ok, how about steering him toward Melee Weapon Mastery (PHBII), working the Greater WF/WS chain up to Weapon Supremacy. Slashing Flurry is available at BAB +14, but I'm not sure a -5 attack penalty is worth an extra attack.

Hmm. Speaking of PHBII, if he wants to TWF with waraxe and a heavy shield, Agile Shield Fighter doesn't have a Dex requirement.

[lytokk]

I was going to suggest improved shield bash, if he wanted another attack. At which point I realized that the two weapon fighting penalties would eat him alive. Unless you could convince the DM to just saying that its a secondary attack (-5 to the base attack), and honestly, its not at all gamebreaking. The guy just wants to hit things.

Iron will as suggested would help out his more than likely low will save.

That's part of the problem with high level fighters, they really start running out of feats to take. Ok, there's more problems, but part of the problem of actually being a high level fighter in an optimization appropriate group.

What about blind fight?

[Flickerdart]

How does he feel about a horse? Mounted Combat might be a cool way to go.

[OldTrees1]

Dragon Magazine printed special fighters with special feat options.
Rain of Blows: -3 Attack for all attacks, gain an extra attack at highest bonus
Storm of Blows: -6 Attack for all attacks, gain 2 extra attacks at highest bonus (overrides^)

But first give him some type of Pounce(full attack on a charge) ability/feat.

[NOhara24]

Anything that might grant an extra attack would be good, since he likes to roll attacks.

He would like Robilar's Gambit. It's a feat that lets him adopt a stance in which enemies get +4 on attack rolls against him. Whenever they swing at him, he gets a free AoO. He'll need Combat Reflexes to get it, but it would let him potentially roll quite a bit of extra attacks, so this would be an easy way to make him happy.

[OldTrees1]

He would like Robilar's Gambit. It's a feat that lets him adopt a stance in which enemies get +4 on attack rolls against him. Whenever they swing at him, he gets a free AoO. He'll need Combat Reflexes to get it, but it would let him potentially roll quite a bit of extra attacks, so this would be an easy way to make him happy.

He has a Dex of 12.

[WhamBamSam]

Plenty of things become straightforward once you've actually put them together. Stuff that looks complicated on a forum looks less so once it hits the table. I wouldn't worry too much about going outside Core.

He's getting two feats this level, how about Improved Bull Rush and Shock Trooper? Shock Trooper gives a few options, but the main one is incredibly straightforward (Power Attack harder when you charge). Even if he's not interested in bull rushing, that's not really what's going on here.

Similarly, you could give him Martial Study (Leading the Attack), and Martial Stance (Leading the Charge). He might never remember to use the maneuver, but it's mostly just a flat bonus to charging for him and his friends. Also, he'll get a lot of reminders without having to feel like he's having his hand held, because everyone else at the table will say "oh yeah, I add +6 to my damage because of [Fighter]'s stance thing."

It wouldn't end up doing much until level 15, because it takes two non-fighter feats, but Shape Soulmeld (Sphinx Claws)+Open Chakra (Hands) would give him pounce, which, again, doesn't require that much thinking.

Even without Improved Trip, Knock-down might not be terrible in low-op. He's a dwarf, so he's at least got a bonus against the reactive attempt to trip him, should he fail.

[lytokk]

Actually, since you said he's about to hit level 12, and has a dex of 12, he could put that attribute point he's getting into Dex and start qualifying for some of those dexterity based feats.

[ohil]

I'd suggest monkey grip.

[fishyfishyfishy]

I'd suggest monkey grip.

Why? -2 on all his attacks for barely any return in damage? He could take Melee Weapon Mastery for +2 attack and damage and outperform Monkey Grip easily. If he really wants a penalty to attacks for more damage he already has power attack. If he purchases an animated shield he can wield that axe with two hands for more damage.

Monkey Grip is just a bad feat.

[Dormammu]

How does he feel about a horse?

He actually has a Griffon! But the poor thing spends most of its time back in town, eating unsuspecting livestock. The party spends 90% of their adventuring time underground and decided it didn't make sense to bring a flying animal into the tunnels.

[black-jack]

Heavy armor optimization raises his AC by 1 and reduces his armor check penalty by one. It also leads to greater armor optimization, raising AC by 1 and lowering the check penalty by 2. Not sure if squeezing comes upal tot, but if it does, tunnel fighting would be great.

[Eldariel]

Whoops. Should have noticed that.

Ok, how about steering him toward Melee Weapon Mastery (PHBII), working the Greater WF/WS chain up to Weapon Supremacy. Slashing Flurry is available at BAB +14, but I'm not sure a -5 attack penalty is worth an extra attack.

It's very occasionally worth it on a one-handed weapon such as how this Dwarven Waraxe is presumably wielded. Power Attack isn't really a valid option so extra attacks are the most efficient means of converting extra attack bonus to damage. If he has the weapon mastery feat chain, his attack rolls are probably pretty decent. Of course, the details of the math depend on what kind of a Waraxe we're talking about (the more damage he has, the better an extra attack is and on the flipside, the more to hit he has, the better the extra damage) and target AC.

Here's the quick math:

Assume 17-18 Strength on character creation, +3 level-ups, +4 item (could be +6 but on these levels, that's a sizable chunk of his composite wealth) for a total of 24-25 (+7). Assume a +3 weapon (courtesy of Greater Magic Weapon) with its own enhancement being +1 Holy or +1 Shocking Flaming (two elementals is the important part). BAB is 12, we have all Weapon Mastery-line feats up to this point for a total of +4 to hit, +6 damage. Further assume Boots of Speed or some other source of Haste.

The Axe then looks like this:
12 BAB + 7 Strength + 4 Feats + 3 Weapon + 1 Haste = +27/+27/+22/+17 vs. +22/+22/+22/+17/+12

1d10 + 7 Strength + 3 Weapon + 6 Feats + 2d6 Weapon Enhancement = 1d10 + 16 (20/x3) + 2d6

So in essence it comes down to whether the extra attack at +12 is worth dropping the two primaries from +27 to +22.

The average AC for CR 12 enemies is 28. Against those, +27/+27/+22/+17 for 1d10 + 16 (20/x3) + 2d6 does 96.54 average damage. +22/+22/+22/+17/+12 for 1d10 + 16 (20/x3) + 2d6 does 91.95, approximately a wash. However, vs. low AC opponents or opponents with AC impairment, or when the character has circumstance bonuses from flank/higher ground/prone opponent/whatever, we're looking at another ballgame. +27/+27/+22/+17 for 1d10 + 16 (20/x3) + 2d6 does 110.34 vs. AC 23 while +22/+22/+22/+17/+12 for 1d10 + 16 (20/x3) + 2d6 does 125.66.

If the character has good sources of hit bonuses or mostly fights against hordes of weaker enemies, Slashing Flurry might be worth using. Most of the time, I think there are better options (and if going two-handed with an animated shield, Power Attack surpasses Slashing Flurry significantly in every way including single attacks after movement).

[Blackhawk748]

Imp Shield Bash and Agile Shield Fighter, now he can use that shield as a weapon, he should look into making it bashing. next he can grab Shield Slam and Shield Charge, both quite fun. Then i recommend working towards Weapon Supremacy, which actually isnt that bad...... if you didnt have to go Fighter 20 and take a bunch of lousy feats.

Honestly im curious what this guys minimum damage is with all those bonuses.

[Dormammu]

Here's the quick math:


You're pretty close! You forgot to factor in that he has Improved Crit, the Axe only does 1 kind of elemental damage, and we should always assume he's hasted AND enlarged. As the DM I also know that they fight a lot of Goblinoids, lower AC giants, and usually have flanking from summoned creatures and such so the extra attacks are more than worth the penalty.

So far we have the following suggestions:

Simple Feats & More of the Same
Iron Will
Greater Weapon Focus
Greater Weapon Specialization

Extra Attacks!
Melee Weapon Mastery
Rain of Blows
Storm of Blows

Shield Fighting!
Improved Shield Bash

Pump Dex to 13!
Dodge
Mobility

Buff that Talking Axe!
Item Familiar

Chaaarge!
Improved Bull Rush
Shock Trooper
Martial Study (Leading the Attack)
Martial Stance (Leading the Charge)

Even More AC!
Heavy Armor Optimization

Most combat is underground...
Tunnel Fighting