After tinkering for a while with the fighter class (like everyone else), I made a write-up (here) and let my players go at it. One liked it enough to give it a try, and this resulted in a pretty happy and excited player, as well as a party that enjoyed their less one-note companion. I think part of that was just giving the fighter anything else to do during combat besides full attack, as well as bumping up the Will save and number of skills per level to a less punishing level.
The basic design philosophy I had while I was going through was to keep things simple but make the class feel like it had a really strong identity. I didn't want to make it the "guy who fights real good" class, because that's the issue with the fighter's identity in the first place. I also wanted to make a clear distinction between the core martial classes and have a fighter feel very different and more tactical. The feeling I really wanted to come from the fighter was a student of war, the person who wakes up every morning to go jog in their armor and drill for hours with weapons. They study every aspect of combat, they read, they hone techniques, they practice, and above all they learn. They aren't a common soldier (which is the NPC class warrior), nor are they just some huge guy who doesn't need any kind of training to lay the smack down (barbarian).
I went with a "Prowess" pool similar to the Gunslinger's Grit or the Swashbuckler's Panache, except that I based it off of Intelligence to complete the mental stat trifecta. I did increase the number of points to 1/2 level, because I didn't want to make the class too MAD, and I wanted to make sure it felt like every fighter could take advantage of training even without a cunning mind.
This was pretty easy. It also opened up deeds, which are great for swapping out to make specific fighter archetypes, and I tried to make the base deeds work as a good blank canvas for any fighter build. With these, too, I tried to mitigate some of the issues inherent in martial combat (like full attacking, Vital Strike not being part of the base combat rules, etc.), and I threw in a few that made fighters much better at taking out casters. I figured if you live in a world with magic, sooner or later you'll train yourself to rip squishy mages to shreds despite their wussy "defensive casting."
I moved Weapon Training down to level 1 and replaced the bonus feat there. I gave Weapon Focus for free (since most fighters I've seen take Weapon Focus as their first bonus feat anyways), and I set it up so that fighters can move around their weapon focus to other weapons in their trained group. The other bonus feats were things I felt every fighter would grab anyways, so those were thrown in to help send home the feeling of the fighter being a master with weapon groups. Armor Training I left alone, because it's just a nice passive thing and I was giving the fighter a lot already. I did bump up Bravery a little bit so that it would be more useful right off the bat and a little more flavorful.
I threw in Combat Mastery as a replacement to bonus feats. These are a pool of prepared combat feats the fighter selects each morning to fill slots. Every time he gets to an even level he gets another slot that he can prepare one of these bonus feats in. So at 4th level a fighter would have 4 bonus feats, and he chooses two of those in the morning to prepare in his two slots. I figured this would make the fighter more versatile and more of a master of combat, and since he can swap the prepared ones any time he gets a prowess point back (or by using a 3rd level deed) he's always got the right tool for the job. I didn't want to throw too many feats at players like Martial Flexibility, because that ability is huge and extremely time-consuming, and I also didn't want players to just pick whichever feats they wanted every morning. This was what I put in as the fighter's version of "Rage Powers" or "Rogue Tricks." Since those (usually) are better than a feat, giving the fighter a pool of combat feats felt fun and like it made the class seem more like a student of war.
In-game, the player really liked that he could parry and that he had plenty of feats to touch on different combat styles. He noted that his character felt a lot more like he was moving with combat and that he was able to adapt. He even got a "kill" by allowing the party archer to make an attack against a fleeing enemy, and he had a brief debate on whether to save prowess or dump it to finish the fight quicker.
Comments, critiques welcome. I'll be using this as my houseruled base class and adapting certain archetypes as players want to use them.
It feels like way too good of a 1st level dip. With one level, you gain a +1 in a weapon, three deeds, and the best proficiencies in the game.
It feels like way too good of a 1st level dip. With one level, you gain a +1 in a weapon, three deeds, and the best proficiencies in the game.
That's actually a really good example of why multiclassing is a bad thing.
A system that permits multiclassing prevents front-heavy classes.
But a front heavy class by itself isn't a bad thing.
Why is appraise a class skill? Seems an odd choice.
Your version of Weapon Training is complicated. So, a single weapon from the first weapon group gains the benefit of a series of feats, while entire groups of weapons (that probably do not include the first weapon) gains a scaling bonus to hit and damage. Except in certain cases, the 1st level weapon has no synergize with any of the weapon groups. Yoou should go backk to the drawing board on this one.
The table lists armor mastery as a class feature, but the write up does not detail it.
Why is appraise a class skill? Seems an odd choice.
Something for the fighter to do, and it makes sense to me that they would know shoddy or good craftsmanship when they see it. They are spending a lot of time with their weapons and armor and are dependent on gear, though I generally think this skill could be put to use more often anyways. That's more a personal DM choice, and I'd happily part with it.
Your version of Weapon Training is complicated. So, a single weapon from the first weapon group gains the benefit of a series of feats, while entire groups of weapons (that probably do not include the first weapon) gains a scaling bonus to hit and damage. Except in certain cases, the 1st level weapon has no synergize with any of the weapon groups. Yoou should go backk to the drawing board on this one.
I had an earlier version but tried to make it scale differently, though I think that attempt might have made it less explicit. The wording is difficult, mostly because the feats make you choose specific weapons. For a long time I've let fighters basically use Weapon Focus, Specialization, etc. for any weapon in the same group, but without that houserule I had to find a way to make it work without also changing the feats. Here's what I'm aiming at, and any help with wording is appreciated:
1) Level 1 the fighter chooses a weapon group (let's say Axes). He gets Weapon Focus and chooses an Axe weapon (let's say battleaxe). If he picks up a greataxe and wants to use it, he can spend 1 minute with the greataxe and switch Weapon Focus's effects over to greataxe instead of battleaxe. He couldn't do this with a longsword, though, because he's not trained in Heavy Blades.
2) At 4th level he gets Weapon Specialization, and its effects match whatever the fighter's Weapon Focus is in. So the above would still have his greataxe Weapon Focus, and now he gets Weapon Specialization. If he wanted to switch back to battleaxe he could, and both Weapon Focus and Specialization would move their effects over.
3) At 5th level he's trained in another weapon group (let's say Heavy Blades), and now he can move Weapon Focus and Specialization over to apply to any weapon in the Heavy Blades group by spending a minute practicing with the weapon.
4) More bonus feats, more weapon groups, etc. keeps this going.
I don't want the fighter to feel so locked into a specific weapon when he's trained in a group of weapons, but again, without changing the wording on the feats themselves, it's kind of difficult to parse the idea.
The table lists armor mastery as a class feature, but the write up does not detail it.
Fixed. That was an oversight.
I like the sound of the long description of weapon training. The one in the doc is too difficult.
I like the sound of the long description of weapon training. The one in the doc is too difficult.
I did go back into the doc and revert it to the earlier formatting I had. It's less clean but more explicit. I think that's an issue with trying to use Paizo wording while simultaneously changing Paizo wording...
Since your fighter is getting Deeds can it take the signature deed feat at lvl 11? and if so are there any restrictions (such as Practiced strike) which would just end up being an automatic +3 to attack and damage on every attack
Good catch, thanks. I forgot that feat existed. I've updated the file to put in the Swashbuckler's precise strike clause for practiced strike. I also fiddled with Weapon Training's wording and effect a bit to line it up a bit more with other classes and have a less front-loaded first level.