(Balance Q) Lazy Fighter fix?

[JusticeZero]

I hear a lot that Fighters are bad, usually with a complicated and specific fix included.
If I were to just give them a bonus feat every level from a pretty open feats list and call it a day, what would the balance effects be like?

[Amechra]

It really wouldn't improve them at all.

OK, it would improve them objectively, it just wouldn't make them good.

[Yitzi]

I hear a lot that Fighters are bad, usually with a complicated and specific fix included.
If I were to just give them a bonus feat every level from a pretty open feats list and call it a day, what would the balance effects be like?

It might push them up to tier 4, but I wouldn't count on it. If your feats list included homebrewed feats that are better than most existing feats and had synergy with each other, you'd probably be able to get tier 4 or even a high tier 4 (which can play well with tier 3).

Tier 1 and 2 aren't going to happen unless your feats include things that can be easily confused for spells.

[Flickerdart]

Feats, by and large, do not give options; they simply augment a character's existing abilities. Druids like feats because they have stuff like Natural Spell and Frozen Wildshape that makes their class features more useful. Wizards like feats because they have stuff like Uncanny Forethought that makes their class features more useful. Fighters don't have class features. The only way they benefit from feats are things that augment attacks and maneuvers (trip, charge, etc). And while expanding the number of feats they get would help them get more of these feat chains (maybe you'll be able to make a fighter that can trip AND charge!) that still doesn't solve the fighter's main problem, which is that the fighter's singular method of problem solving is walking up to something and hitting it, and if a problem can't be solved through walking and hitting, it's not a problem the fighter class can solve.

[JusticeZero]

Well, i'm only aiming at T3ish. out of combat utility is always going to be an issue for a class named "Fighter", and i'm not sure how one would even begin to remedy that. The only idea i've had so far was to put a side order of warlord/bard in, and that seems like it could get really hard to tinker with very fast. They definitely need more skills if nothing else.

[Eldan]

The problem is, there's few if any long feat chains. After you've taken maybe about eight or so feats, you simply have all that interact meaningfully with one kind of attack. After that, you get something new. So, getting to T4 with just feats is already hard.

To get to T3, you'd need much more than just feats. There's few feats that help with social situations, exploration, information gathering, stealth, etc. etc.

Remember: to be T3, you have to be able to at least contribute to most possible problems in the game, not just combat.

[JusticeZero]

Other "lazy fix" is to add a bunch of skill points to them and open up a lot of available skills in "face", utility, and knowledge skills.