... And again, it's a distinction without a difference and pure semantics.You're exaggerating. It's a distinction of debatable scale (and scale that may vary from negligible to significant from character to character), but it's obviously not pure semantics. I don't think you would be able to argue with a straight face that "bonus combat feat" is strictly as useful as "bonus feat" as a class feature.
And in fact, the more any particular character tries to take advantage of this oft-suggested fighter remedy (by aiming for a larger and larger number of non-combat feats), the more significant the distinction becomes.
In practical terms, however ...
Right. In practical term, the Fighter has 11 extra feats. Ture, they are not 100% interchangeable, but in real life, it means at least one feat you'd take anyway. So, it is a distinction without a difference, in real life.
Or he could take a level in barbarian and get a rage power. Or rogue and rogue talent. And paladin, and etc.
It's a class comparison. General feats have nothing to do with what you get when you choose class levels. So from a practical standpoint, what you can get with General Feats is meaningless. It's what you get for choosing class x over class Y.
Comparing what you get for taking a fighter to a general feat is as crazy as comparing a level in wizard to a general feat.
'Just because' one of the feats you might want is a combat feat is no different then one of the feats you might want is extra rage power. It has no bearing on what the class itself gives you.
It's build comparison vs class comparison. Kindly stick to the latter. All the smoke about 'practicality' is for build comparisons, that's it.
==Aelryinth
Design Manager
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So, to try and wrap this thing up and get back on topic:
Yes, the Fighter has bonus combat feats. While these cannot be spent on things like Iron Will, they may allow him to take Iron Will and still have a feat for something else he wants to take, like Power Attack.
However, since these combat feats are his class features that he's spending, this is the same equivalence as saying that a Barbarian can use his normal feat to take Power Attack since his Rage ability gives him a benefit comparable to Iron Will (actually much better, but lets not muddy the waters).
So basically, whether or not a Fighter can take Iron Will with his regular feats is a moot point, because every other class has the exact same ability and gains class features that are comparable to (often better than) feats. It literally does not matter that the Fighter can take Iron Will, and in fact presuming that he does/will actually hurts his case. The Fighter's primary strength is being able to complete feat trees more quickly. It's the feats like Whirlwind Attack and Thunder and Fang that actually give benefits comparable to class features that make his bonus feats worthwhile. If he is instead not meeting these prereqs because he's dipping into defensive feats that are equivalent to tertiary benefits of other character's class features, he's noticeably losing out.
Example:
Level 1 Fighter takes Iron Will and Weapon Focus - +1 to hit, +2 to Will saves
Level 1 Barbarian gains Rage and Weapon Focus - +3 to hit, +2 to damage, +2 to STR related skills, +2 to Fort saves, +2 hp/hit die, +2 Will saves, -2 AC, all benefits but +1 to hit useable for 4+CON rounds a day +2 rounds per level.
Obviously the Barbarian probably has better things to do than take Weapon Focus, but if we go ahead and assume all other things are basically equal, who do you really think came out ahead in the above scenario? Even at low levels it's very rare to see Barbarians run out of rounds of rage (largely because there are few level appropriate challenges capable of surviving a hit from a barbarian at low levels), and soon the per round limits of his rage are largely academic.
That's the point Aelryinth is trying to get across. You can't say "Fighter has 5 or more feats than anybody else so he can spend them on XYZ and come out ahead" because you're ignoring the fact that other classes are getting their own class features simultaneously. It's not "Fighter has 21 feats to your 16 Mr. Ranger" it's "Fighter has 10 normal feats, just like you, and 11 Combat feats to your 6 bonus feats that don't require prereqs, 11 class features, and spellcasting. Bet your pet wolf, ability to hide in plain sight, and your many and varied spells are jealous of my Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, huh?"
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The comparison between class features and feats would be valid if feats and class features were equal, but they are not. Some feats are as strong class features (animal ally) and some feats are much worse than class features(weapon focus).
Normally class features are stronger than feats. Some class features may be less powerful than feats but the CORE class feature are always better than feats.
The only feat which could be considered "better" than a core class feature is leadership, but even that is debatable.
For general purposes, most feats are equal to 1/2 a class feature. This is especially true of combat feats.
However, Extra Rage power is exactly equal to a class feature, since it duplicates a class feature. Technically, so are Extra Mercy and Extra Rogue talent, but the former is only valid for Mercies you already qualify for, and the latter is basically an underpowered feat anyways (Rogue Talents = Rogue Feats by any other name...). Getting more Mercies is not as strong as getting them in the first place.
In terms of pure power, the most powerful feats in the game are generally agreed to be:
1) Leadership. Getting a whole nuther custom PC is without a doubt better then any other feat.
2) The magic item crafting feats. Doubling your WBL for making stuff is incredibly useful; multiplies use of your downtime; adds versatility; makes sure you get what you want; and is just all around cool to have. A party taking advantage of this can easily be 2-4 levels higher in effectiveness.
There's other common feats (Power Attack), and feats that are the equal of class features (Extra Rage Power; Boon Companion) that come to mind, but Leadership and the crafting feats are far and away the best.
It should probably come as no surprise that that is exactly why they aren't in PFS or other organized play in the past, and tend to be things DM's that want control of their campaigns watch over the most.
==Aelryinth
I think the fighter could be really cool if I wanted 11 general feats and 11 combat feats at the level I would get them.
I don't though. The fighter is great for quickly getting high feat chain builds to come online quickly, but for that to be valuable feats themself have to valuable.
This is why I like spont feats so much. Far too many feats are only situationally good, spont feats allow you to build fighter that grabs the early feats in multiple feat chains so he came make use of them.
Things like critical focus by themselves are pretty meh, but when that feats allows you to spontaneously grab any crit effect feat, the worth of critical focus goes way up.
Even with that premise, I ran out of feats I actually wanted.