Interesting Fighter Builds 1 - The Strategist

[NightbringerGGZ]

I'm working on a few interesting Fighter builds that will eventually make it into my guide, but I'm hoping to get some feedback from y'all on how useful these builds might be as well as any ways you know of to improve them. For now, I'm keeping this to 1st party material only.

The goal of this build is combine various ways for a Fighter to fill a support role, namely buffing and debuffing. Additionally, the Fighter should maintain some degree of competence in combat though odds are that he won't be putting out the highest possible numbers. The build I have worked out is able to provide a variety of Morale, Sacred, Luck and Untyped bonuses to the entire party while also doing a bit of debuffing. There are actually more options that I can fit into a single build though, so I'm hoping y'all will think them through with me.



Tactician Archetype: This archetype offers quite a bit, 4 skills per level, Tactician class feature (as the Cavalier), and finally a unique class feature that lets you grant Aid Another bonuses to 1+Int allies at the same time, at range, with you choosing if the ally gains a bonus to AC or Attack.

Helpful (Halfling): Boosts the bonus on Aid Another checks to +4.
Harrying Partners: Grab this as your Tactician bonus feat or retrain into it. When you use Aid Another to boost AC or Attack rolls it lasts until the start of your next turn.


Dazzling Display: You provide a bit of a debuff to opponents. Note, Performance Combat feats will allow you to use this as a Swift Action and potentially apply other debuffs. Performing Combatant along with Hero's Display are a cheap investment there.


Iomedae's Inspiring Sword: As a full-round action you provide a +2 Sacred bonus to attack, damage and skill rolls for all allies, lasing 1 round plus an additional round per 5 BAB. At level 10, if you have Weapon Focus: Longsword and Dazzling Display then you can provide the bonus after a standard action attack or as a free action after a charge.


Bard VMC: At level 7 you gain Inspire Courage and Inspire Competence as a Bard 4 levels lower than your character level. With Lingering Performance you can make up for the fact that you have few rounds of Performance (Cha + your character level), though retraining a feat at this level might be advisable if you dumb Charisma.


So for my build, I'd pick the traits Helpful (Halfling) and Bruising Intellect (Intimidate). This allows me to dump Charisma but still keep the build rolling. Let's assume a human build with a 16 Strength and a 15 Intelligence, and the other attributes distributed as you like. Feats are as follows:

1. Weapon Focus (Longsword), Dazzling Display, Hero's Display
2. Performing Combatant
3. VMC
4. Power Attack
5. [Something Temporary], Bonded Mind (Bonus Teamwork Feat)
6: Divine Fighting Technique: Iomedae's Inspiring Sword
7: VMC, Retrain level 5 feat into Lingering Performance

From levels 8 and on you can pick up what ever you like. Note, at level 9 you'll gain your first rank in Weapon Training so an AWT option is probably advisable. Level 11 is the sweet spot for this build as a number of things come online. You can activate a Bardic Performance as a Move Action and you gain Cooperative Combatant for the Aid Another bonuses. You'll have 3 uses of Tactician, so your allies should all have Harrying Partners, and if they've picked up Bonded Minds then you'll be delivering your tactical advice via group telepathy. You can provide the bonuses from Iomedae's Inspiring Sword for a full minute after a standard action as well, and can attempt to Intimidate in a 30 foot radius each round as a swift action.

[mauk2]

Cripes, folks, six hours and NOBODY?

To OP:

I like martial classes a lot, so much so that me and a buddy of mine are writing a whole game to help un-screw them. So, take a look at this version of the Fighter, from the game we're working on. (See sig.)


https://www.epicpath.org/index.php/Fighter

[9mm]

Only major problem I spot is Tactician gives up it's first bonus feat at first level for expanded skill points. I don't really like the action econ of the build, and would love to slip in swift aid, though how exactly our aid another boosts interact with that feat is very iffy and strains the feats further.

[Geddy2112]

I would look into the feats swift aid, and the teamwork feat exceptional aid(although not sure how or if this would stack with the racial trait helpful) but since tactician can get it, might as well. Likewise, I am unsure how this stacks with the order of the dragon caviler ability. I would think the racial trait is better than exceptional aid or order of the dragon and there is no stacking, but swift aid might be worth a look.

If you don't plan on actually fighting, you can let strength go by the wayside. You have armor, shields and a racial dex bonus, so dex can slide as well. I would try not to dump cha too far as you want the bardic performance rounds, but with racial modifiers you only need a 10. Should be enough with your other tricks to avoid needing lingering performance(at least early on). You need a 14 int to get the Int13 prerequisite for some combat feats, and to be able to help your allies. You could sneak by with 10 con having good fort and hit dice, as well as not being a frontliner. Wis 12 at a minimum for the will save bonus. I will say the build works well at any point buy because it is not really ability score dependent.

My two major problems with the build are requiring allies to take a feat(albeit a good teamwork one) and the fact that fear immunity is very common at higher levels. So dazzling display is probably going to be worth retraining after about level 11 when most of what you fight is immune to fear, or a -2 debuff for a round or 2 is worthless. IMO, dazzling display only works on antipaladins at level 10+. Obviously this is campaign dependent. If you wanna stick to it, you can take motivating display to turn the buffs on the allies(as it is morale, and your bard/sacred sword are competence and sacred, respectfully). You also might want disheartening display and shatter defenses if you really want a fear build.

Consider an

[NightbringerGGZ]

I forgot about losing the bonus feat. That means dropping Power Attack and moving Performing Combatant to level 4. Still decent, but maybe a bit too much to try and shoe-horn in. I just liked the idea of building off of a feat I'd be taking anyway. While the -2 penalty isn't huge, the swift action activation combined with other buffs you'd be providing would stack up. Group, Ranged Aid Another + Bardic Performance + Intimidate check on a single round seems like pretty good action economy to me.

As for ability scores and not fighting, you'll want to do some fighting in early levels and by the mid levels you'll want to be using a charge or a standard action attack to activate the Sacred bonuses (which last for a minute when used that way). I'd consider swapping out the performance combat feats and dazzling display in the early levels to instead pick up Stumbling Bash to deliver a -2 AC penalty to any target you hit with a shield bash, then picking up Dazzling Display & IIS later on.