Variations on a Theme: Fixin' Fighter

[nonsi]

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Ok. Under the assumption that this goes into 3.5e without taking any house rules into account, here's a simple (yet solid) T3 Fighter (methinks).

Several goals converge in this Fighter Fix:
- Simplicity in design.
- Simplicity in play.
- High survivability.
- All around contribution within the campaign.
- Not pushing the power dial too far high (should measure up to the Warblade).

Level	Special
====================================================================
1	Bonus Feat (BF), Combat Training, Practice Makes Perfect
2	BF, Physical Prowess (PhP)
3	Mettle
4	BF, PhP
5	Armor Mastery (medium)
6	BF, PhP
7	Uncanny Dodge
8	BF, PhP, Combat Adaptation (1)
9	Evasion
10	BF, PhP
11	Armor Mastery (heavy)
12	BF, PhP
13	Mobile Fighter (full attack as a standard action)
14	BF, PhP, Combat Adaptation (2)
15	Improved Uncanny Dodge
16	BF, PhP
17	Improved Mettle
18	BF, PhP
19	Improved Evasion
20	BF, PhP, Combat Adaptation (3), Combat Adaptation Perfection

Good Saves: Fort & Ref

Class Skills: Balance, Climb, Craft, Diplomacy, Handle Animals, Heal, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (dungeoneering / geography / history / local / nobility and royalty), Listen, Profession, Ride, Sense Motive, Spot, Survival and Swim.

Skill Points Per Level: 4 + Int-mod



Bonus Feat: This work as detailed for the core Fighter. In addition, for each Fighter ACF accessible via swapping bonus feats, the character is not restricted to the levels specified, but may take any of them at later levels.
For instance, a fighter may trade a bonus feat at 8th level in order to take the Elusive Attack ACF.

1 > Combat Training: For the purposes of qualifying for "Fighter feats" (gained by either class progression or character progression), you treat your ability scores as though they were 2 points higher than they actually are at 1st level. At level 6 and each 5 class-levels thereafter, this bonus increases by +1 (max +5 at level 16).
The same alleviation is applied to ranks in prerequisite skills, with the constraint that skills that cannot be used untrained require the fighter to have at least 1 rank in them. Furthermore, once per day, a fighter may spend 10 minutes training with a specific weapon he’s not proficient with and gain proficiency with that specific weapon (doesn't apply to other weapons of the same type). This temporary adaptation is lost in 2 cases:
- More than 1 day per fighter level has passes since the last time the fighter has trained with the weapon and it was not used in battle.
- The fighter has completed 10 minutes of training with another weapon for the purpose of gaining temporary proficiency.

1 > Practice Makes Perfect: See the Eunuch Fighter (above).

2 > Physical Prowess (Ex)
At 2nd level and each even level, a fighter receives a scaling +1 bonus to one of the following aspects:
- Applied Force: The fighter can administer force to the weakest points of inanimate objects effectively, giving the character a +1 bonus on Strength checks to break or burst items.
- Combat Bearing: The fighter can steady himself to fight in precarious situations, to avoid falling when damaged while balancing or moving quickly across difficult surfaces.
- Stamina Reserve: The fighter can push his body more than normal, to continue running and avoid nonlethal damage from a forced march, and to resist drowning.

5 > Armor Mastery (medium) (Ex): As given for the official Knight. Also, when wearing a medium armor and not helpless, the fighter also gains DR X/–, where X = [2 + lvl/6] (max DR 5/– at 18^th).

8 > Combat Adaptation (Ex): An 8th level fighter starts gaining access to combat tricks beyond his training. The fighter may spend a swift action to gain access to a combat feat (to which he meets the prerequisites) for 1 round per Con-bonus (minimum 1). To take a feat in such manner, a fighter must have seen it in action at some point in the past. The fighter may spend a swift action later on during the encounter to replace a chosen feat with another.
The total pool size of such instantly available feats equals [3 + Fighter level + Int-mod].
At 14th level, a fighter may simultaneously benefit from two feats to which he meets the prerequisites, but must spend separate swift actions to gain them when the need arises. A fighter may even take a temporary feat that has another temporary feat as prereq, as long as he takes them in the appropriate order.
At 20th level, a fighter may simultaneously benefit from three feats to which he meets the prerequisites.

9 > Evasion (Ex): Unlike the Rogue's Evasion, a fighter's functions in medium (but not heavy) armor.
Starting at 11^th level, a fighter's Evasion applies to heavy armors made of Mithral.
Starting at 19^th level, a fighter's Evasion applies to all armors.

11 > Armor Mastery (heavy) (Ex): As given for the official Knight. Also, when wearing a heavy armor and not helpless, the fighter also gains DR X/–, where X = [3 + lvl/4] (max DR 8/– at 20^th).

20 > Combat Adaptation Perfection (Ex): Your vast combat experience grants you better adaptability to handle the need of the moment. Once every 5 rounds, you may reassign all of your floating feats gained via Combat Adaptation as a free action.




Fighter Variant: Commando:
Loses:
- Medium and heavy armor
- Shields
- Armor Mastery (levels 5 and 11)
- Evasion is not applicable in medium armor
Gains:
- 6 skill points per level.
- Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, Search, Sleight of Hand, Tumble and Use Rope as class skills.
- 5 > Inner Grit: This feature is a gestalt between the Knight's Impetuous Endurance feature and Steadfast Determination feat ^PHB-II. Motivation: Impetuous Endurance is a solid feature for a tank, but the Knight gains it so late that it will probably never see gameplay. Also, free-of-charge bypassing high-Wis requirement for having solid mental resilience is within reason for a lightly armored warrior.
- 11 > Parry & Riposte: As an immediate action, you may negate a physical attack against you by making a counter attack roll – at your highest BAB – equal to or higher than your attacker. If successful, your attacker provokes an AoO from you.