"Fast + Dodgy" fighter in heavy armor

[Reprimand]

I am not trying to optimize or minmax this at least as little a possible while making it playable.

So I kind wanted to make a knight from my dark souls 3 Soul level 1 run. I was thinking fighter with every single dodge feat under the sun (dodge mobility juke all of them) and eventually like circling mongoose but the funny thing is in armor I would be able to move a normal speed

I was thinking just something tough as nails but hard to hit both in terms of mobility but as well as AC and HP.

Is there a way a human to gain a dwarven weapon proficiency for the dwarven waraxe like a trait?

Goals: Be human with ties to dwarves, Reduce max dex on my armor, reduce armor check penalty, be able to soak AoOs with little risk myself, be mobile, heavily armored, deal OK damage use dwarven waraxe one handed if possible, be VERY hard to move from a choke point and block enemy advance through a 5x5 square.

I don't want to be an actual dwarf but a human inspired by Dwarven tenacity and warrior culture

Is there a list of feats with dodge as a prereq.

The reason I want to make a character like this is because my group frequently complains that I play spellcasters too much and invalidate a lot of encounters I have agreed to retire my current character and to run a martial or expert. My group holds feats like dodge and such in very low regard (which is not incorrect) so I figure I can run a half decent character focused around dodgy feats and maybe a few feats that let me reposition enemies like juke and flanking/soaking aoos for other flankers as a fighter

[DeTess]

I'm not sure if there's a way to get dwarf-like effects on a human. Does your table allow more extensive refluffing? If so, maybe just play a dwarf as race, but describe it as a human.

For feats, I recommend you take a look at elusive target. It requires dodge and mobility, and has a set of very useful effects (power attack just won't work against you, you can trip people missing an AoO against you and when you're flanked, and one of the flankers is the target of your dodge feat, he'll automatically miss you on their first attack and maybe hit the other flanker instead).

Edit:...I'd missed the pathfinder tag. Disregard the above unless your DM allows 3.5 material.

[Ellrin]

It's not a dodge, exactly, but a level of swashbuckler will get you the Opportune Parry and Riposte deed, which lets you expend an AoO attempt and a panache point to make an attack roll vs. your opponent's attack roll, and if yours is higher you can negate the attack (and can even make a counterattack as an immediate action). Unlike a lot of swashbucker abilities, you don't have to be wearing light/no armor. If you're willing to go a bit higher in swashbuckler levels, the kip-up and bralani's swiftness (from the Azatariel archetype (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/swashbuckler/archetypes/paizo-swashbuckler-archetypes/azatariel-swashbuckler-archetype/)) deeds might fit in thematically with your concept, though they're probably not mechanically worth the extra levels. The Mouser archetype (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/swashbuckler/archetypes/paizo-swashbuckler-archetypes/mouser/)'s underfoot assault deed replaces opportune parry and riposte, but it may also fit in thematically with your concept of an agile fighter drawing a larger foe's attention and allowing your allies to flank it.

If 3rd party is on the table, you might want to look at the mithral current discipline (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/path-of-war/disciplines-and-maneuvers/mithral-current-maneuvers/) from Path of War. It's a bit samurai-themed, but has a lot of counters (which you can activate as immediate actions) that allow you to move out of the way of an attack or spell. You can pick these up via an initiating class or archetype, or through the Martial Training (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/path-of-war/feats/martial-training-i-combat) feat tree.

[AnimeTheCat]

I think there are some vigilante traits that do this kind of thing too, in addition to feats. I'm no pathfinder expert, so I could be remembering my limited readings incorrectly.

[SangoProduction]

Just because it's on my mind at the moment, I'm going to suggest Vorpal Knight, if third party is allowed. It doesn't directly reduce heavy armor penalty, but it does provide effectively scaling natural armor, which, because it's mechanically identical to regular armor, aside from stacking with regular armor, is pretty easy to refluff. This will let you wear lighter "real armor" while having the same "heavily armored" status. Thus you get to be that "heavy armor specialist" who's still flexible and mobile. Chock it up to Germ-....um...Dwarven Engineering. Oh, and they can eventually bolt on giant machano-dragon wings to their armor.

Regarding the question of dodge feats, here's a link to the Feats Filter. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/combat-feats-filter/)Dunno how up to date it is, but Wind Stance and Side Step both sound appropriate.

Back to the 3rd party stuff, and I'll go to my absolute favorite: Spheres of Power / Might. Specifically Spheres of Might's Blacksmith, taking the Guardian, Shield, and Athletics spheres. This ought to achieve a tanky, yet slippery baxter who throws his weight around and denies space. Maybe add in a level or two of Conscript for the boat load of talents for those spheres.

[Geddy2112]

For your dwarven proficiency, you can just take the adopted racial trait(not the trait trait), which gives you the weapon proficiency of another race. It trades out your humanbonus feat but exotic weapon proficiency only gives you a single weapon while the dwarven proficiency gives you all.

As for the build, keep in mind armor training increases your max dex in any armor and eventually lets you treat heavy armor as light armor for the purposes of movement speed, making a dex fighter in full plate an option. Mithral full plate has a +3 max dex before armor training, so at level 7 you treat mithral full plate as light armor with a +5 max dex bonus and an armor check penalty of -1.

Since you are more dex and focused on dodging, you don't need as much strength, even a 14 is sufficient to qualify for power attack and get a bonus for a 2 handed weapon.

For the dodge feat tree, spring attack with a reach weapon is utterly nasty, allowing you to hit from distance and keep away. Tack on combat reflexes to punish enemies that try to get close. Since you are spring attacking, power attack+furious focus is free damage.

[Psyren]

OP, have I got a treat for you.

The last of the PF1 hardcovers came out recently, Planar Adventures. Open it up and you will find the Planar Heritage (http://www.archivesofnethys.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Planar%20Heritage) feat, which is basically Racial Heritage but for native outsiders (aasimar, tieflings, the "genasi", etc.)

Pick that up on your human and choose Oread, the earth genasi. Now your human qualifies for Oread feats. Specifically, you want the Oread feat Dwarf-Blooded (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/racial-feats/dwarf-blooded-oread/) - now your human has the dwarven stonecunning and slow-and-steady traits. Enjoy wearing your Stoneplate with no speed reduction, and bring a diagram of your genealogy to parties to blow the other guests' minds with.

Your character can already use a Dwarven Waraxe without anything special, you just have to use it two-handed. It will count as Martial if used that way.

Blocking chokepoints is harder. Are third-party sources (i.e. Path of War) allowed, or do you have to do this first-party?

[Reprimand]

Sadly we don't have access to a huge number of books however. All 1st party traits / feats (for the most part) are allowed entire classes are more difficult. Which is why I was trying to stick with straight fighter. My group has a bit of a stigma for PRCs in PF which is odd because usually PRCs in pathfinder are almost never as great as sticking in your class the whole way.

The Oread trait + dwarf blooded might be something that would work but using a book that introduces a large number of new mechanics like path of war would be out of place with that group.

Basically traits/feats that supplement moving in heavy armor reducing armor check penalty reduction allowing me to gain proficiency with weapons like what you posted are all more acceptable. The more books you need for a character the shadier it tends to look to my group even it's not actually min-maxed.

I was thinking Unbreakable Fighter 20 I still get access to armor training 1 and 2 which allow me to move quickly in armor and get a few nice things that work well with the stubborn dwarflike themes. Eventually shell out for a mithril breastplate +1 (and continue to upgrade it as I go). Is there a trait that reduces armor check penalty by 1 just so I can get the armor check penalty down to 0? I know there is an AC boosting one for a specific type of armor (Full plate) for example. and is there a way I can get more traits? I have too many feats it's hard to plan it out.

[Psyren]

Additional Traits (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/additional-traits/) gets you more traits in exchange for feats (2:1 ratio.)

Your statement about "large number of new mechanics" was a bit confusing - Planar Adventures doesn't have a bunch of new mechanics, it's a setting/fluff book that happens to have some feats in it (one of which lets a [human] race pick up some racials from native outsiders.) Two feats would thus get you the slow-and-steady trait without any speed reduction. That part may not have been directed at me though.

Unbreakable isn't the worst Fighter archetype, but I would generally not advise any archetypes that replace Weapon Training - Advanced Weapon Training (http://www.archivesofnethys.com/AdvWeaponTraining.aspx) (AWT) options are just too good. Advanced Armor Training (AAT) options are a bit less impactful but there's still a good argument to be made for staying in base fighter. Note that AWT lets you duplicate and even exceed a lot of what Unbreakable gets you (e.g. Heroic Recovery/Defiance multiple times per day, Bravery applying to all will saves rather than just fear and mind-affecting) while also giving you even more options (more skills, CMD boosts, Item Mastery, initiative boosts etc.)

[Reprimand]

Your statement about "large number of new mechanics" was a bit confusing - Planar Adventures doesn't have a bunch of new mechanics, it's a setting/fluff book that happens to have some feats in it (one of which lets a [human] race pick up some racials from native outsiders.) Two feats would thus get you the slow-and-steady trait without any speed reduction. That part may not have been directed at me though.

What I was referring to here was all of the suggestions using path of war or feats / traits from those books or similar books that introduce subsystems of rules such as psionics (not necessarily anything posted by you I'm just bad at editing). I'll actually probably use the dwarven heritage thing you were talking about if the DM is okay with that.