Could use a little help salvaging my fighter


Advice


Hi there, I'm new to these forums and Pathfinder in general but I'm hoping you guys can help me out a bit. I'm playing a fighter that just hit lvl 6 last night and I'm not sure what feat to take or really how to build him in general. My party consists of a swashbuckler focused on damage and looking cool, a priest who focuses on healing and fire spells and a witch focused on buffs/debuffs, all of whom are built very squishy. My intention with the fighter was to play a tanky guy who could manipulate the battlefield, sort've a guy who fought smart rather than hard if that makes sense.

My Build Thus Far:

Human, Fighter
STR 18(+2 from human, +1 at 4), DEX 15, CON 14, INT 14, WIS 9, CHA 12
Skills: Disable Device, Intimidate, Local, Geography, Perception, Prof: Soldier

Weapon Training: Blades, Heavy

Feats:
Weapon Prof: Bastard Sword
Fast Learner
Shaft and Shield(3rd party, going to retrain at lvl 8)
Power Attack
Iron Will
Combat Reflexes
Stand Still

Unfortunately, I built this guy before reading more extensively on fighters. As I understand it, fighters should specialize on one weapon. And if you're going sword and board you have to go into the dual wielding stuff to do any damage, which honestly, sounds annoying to me. I'd rather not have to make 8 attack rolls and I'd rather spend those feats on something else. So I'm debating whether I should switch it up to a two hander since the damage from that seems to scale better than the AC from a shield. And really, I'm just kind of at a loss on what to take that'll help me keep my party alive. I understand that this isn't an MMO and tanking isn't really a thing but I'm hoping there's stuff that can somehow help me soak up damage for the party. Are the repositioning or trip feats worth it? Or should I just focus on survivability and rely on Stand Still to keep the enemies on me?


one handed fighting works okay, your damage is lower but not awful for a fighter with the right feats.

if you get weapon specialization feat that adds 2 damage to your attacks.

1-handed an attack is str + 2 for power attack

2-handed an attack is 1.5 str + 3 for power attack.

So you're looking at a 2 damage from str and 2 damage from power attack that you're not getting from two-handing. Taking weapon specialization gets half of that back. Not any way to get the other part back, but it's not the end of the world since it sounds like you want this guy to have real good AC.


Your ability to draw damage away from the rest of the party depends heavily on how your GM runs enemies. Do they always consider spellcasters a priority no matter what they are and circumvent melee fighters to get to them? Not much you can do about that. Do you face a lot of enemies the GM plays as mindless (whether they are or not) that just attack whatever attacks them? Then you have a chance.

So before we can answer that part of your question, what's your experience with your GM? How 'smart' does he play the opposition?


Quote:
So you're looking at a 2 damage from str and 2 damage from power attack that you're not getting from two-handing. Taking weapon specialization gets half of that back. Not any way to get the other part back, but it's not the end of the world since it sounds like you want this guy to have real good AC.

I'm actually not sure if I care about AC or not. My friend, the witch in our group, believes that AC doesn't matter and it's more important to kill quickly. Which makes me wonder if high hit points and damage reduction are more viable for survival.

Quote:
So before we can answer that part of your question, what's your experience with your GM? How 'smart' does he play the opposition?

We haven't fought too many "smart" enemies yet, it's mostly been some fey and undead. The more intelligent ones did however focus on our magic users. I mean our DM is pretty smart but she's not 'cruel' and I think she's been trying to take it a -little- easy on us since we're all new.


AC is quite valuable. Yes, it's not worth TANKING your damage for, but having a small deduction of damage for AC isn't a crippling option. One-handed damage is lower than two-handed, but all that really matters is, Do you feel you're doing enough damage. If the answer is yes on one-handed then you're good. If the answer is no and one-handed can't reach good damage then you'll need to move to two-handed.


Your Witch is partially right. Ending a fight quickly does mean less damage taken overall, although I wouldn't call AC irrelevant. Chess Pwn is right about the AC vs Damage switch. It really does come down to whether or not you feel you're doing enough damage using a one-handed style.

If you're concerned about damage but don't want to rebuild things entirely, you might want to consider getting a quickdraw shield and the Quick Draw feat. Shield Focus gets you back the 1 AC you lose for quickdraw shield having to be light, and you'll be able to draw the shield as a free action for when you need the extra AC, and have it put away in order to two-hand your Bastard Sword (since you have the option). Even without the Quick Draw feat, you'll still be able to draw the shield as a swift action, so you can still full attack.

Grabbing the shield with the Quick Draw feat also technically opens up a cheese move where you use a free action to draw the shield at the end of your turn, and then a free action to put away the shield at the beginning of your turn so you can two-hand for your turn, then pull the shield out again at the end. It gives you full AC when you're under attack and full damage when you're attacking.

That being said, I do not condone or recommend using this move. It will likely aggravate your GM, and it really is very cheesy. It's actually a pet peeve of mine.


Your build would work fairly well if you could:

1.) Get a Glove of Storing, perhaps by paying your party's wizard for it?
2.) Not retrain Shaft and Shield

What you would do is wield a Ranseur and your sword. Use your sword two-handed for full attacks, then 5 foot step away, release your grip with your primary hand, and *snap* you have your Ranseur out as a free action, giving you a 10 ft reach while still threatening your adjacent squares. Once it's your turn again, simply hide your Ranseur again, grip your sword with both hands, step forward and full attack again.

Now, the rules here are a little odd...

FAQ said wrote:

If you use Two-Weapon Fighting on your turn to attack with two weapons, do you also take that penalty on attacks of opportunity made before the start of your next turn? How long do the penalties last?

No, the penalties end as soon as you have completed the full-attack action that allowed you to attack with both weapons. Any attacks of opportunity you make are at your normal attack bonus. Generally speaking, penalties on attacks made during your turn do not carry over to attacks of opportunity unless they specifically state otherwise (such as the penalty from using Power Attack).

Since the penalties for TWF don't take place for AoO when it's not your turn, this means that so long as you don't TWF during your turn, you can wield both the Ranseur and your sword without penalty when it's not your turn.

Since your GM is already allowing third party content, see if they'll allow you to use Called Shots and their associated feats. If so, I'd pick up Dirty Fighting, Improved Called Shot, and Greater Called Shot at 8th or 9th. This would allow you to perform certain debuffs with your melee attacks, including reducing speed, penalizing attack rolls, some skill checks, increasing concentration checks, imposing the sickened condition, and others in order to limit your opponent's ability to attack your ally.

That takes you up until 9th level, where you can grab Critical Focus. You'll also probably want to take Pin Down at 11th level. Not sure what to do from that point.


Bodyguard (Combat)
Prerequisite: Combat reflexes.

Benefit: When an adjacent ally is attacked, you may use an attack of opportunity to attempt the aid another action to improve your ally’s AC. You may not use the aid another action to improve your ally’s attack roll with this attack.

Normal: Aid another is a standard action.

In Harm’s Way (Combat)

Prerequisite: Bodyguard.

Benefit: While using the aid another action to improve an adjacent ally’s AC, you can intercept a successful attack against that ally as an immediate action, taking full damage from that attack and any associated effects (bleed, poison, etc.). A creature cannot benefit from this feat more than once per attack.


You could combo bodyguard/in harm's way with Mobility and Combat Patrol, and act as your group's defender.

Combat Patrol (Combat)
You range across the battlefield, dealing with threats wherever they arise.

Prerequisites: Combat reflexes, Mobility, base attack bonus +5.

Benefit: As a full-round action, you may set up a combat patrol, increasing your threatened area by 5 feet for every 5 points of your base attack bonus. Until the beginning of your next turn, you may make attacks of opportunity against any opponent in this threatened area that provokes attacks of opportunity. You may move as part of these attacks, provided your total movement before your next turn does not exceed your speed. Any movement you make provokes attacks of opportunity as normal.

Switch your bastard sword for a polearm and you'd have a 20' radius at level 10. Use early rounds to set up a patrol between your enemies and your squishy friendlies. In later rounds you can lock down melee with your swashbuckler and take some of the damage intended for him during fights.

You'll need a few levels to get it all up and running since you'll need to sink in 4 feats in total (3 levels + retrain), but it could be what you're looking for. Haste will also make this better for the movement - Boots of Speed will be your friend.


What options is your GM giving you for retraining?

Seager wrote:
Weapon Prof: Bastard Sword... I'm debating whether I should switch it up to a two hander

That sounds like your GM is allowing you to switch up Feats. Would he allow you to change Races, too? Personally, I don't see the appeal of being a Human with a Bastard Sword. Play a Tengu, and you are automatically proficient with Bastard Sword (every sword). Play a Dwarf, and you are automatically proficient with Dwarven War Axe, which is like a Bastard Sword, but it's an axe. Plus you get those other bonuses and options those races give. Can you change race? Can you swap out some of your levels in Fighter for levels in something else: Ranger or Inquisitor or something?

Seager wrote:
As I understand it, fighters should specialize on one weapon.

Not necessarily. Sometimes you want a right-tool-for-the-job approach: a blunt weapon, a piercing weapon, a slashing weapon, a silver weapon, a cold iron weapon, and an adamantine weapon. Sometimes you need a bow. Sometimes it makes sense to close into melee with the orcs, but then throw a spear at that wizard behind them. It all depends on situation and your own preferences.

Seager wrote:
I'd rather not have to make 8 attack rolls and I'd rather spend those feats on something else.

I'm a little confused by this. As a rule, the more attacks you get the better. Sure, you can focus more on making each attack do more damage, or you can focus more on just getting lots of attacks, and I suppose the way to optimize your damage/round is some combination of lots of powerful attacks.

If you really want to minimize the number of attacks you make per round, I do recommend you specialize in 1 thing: Grappling. You can put together a ridiculously powerful Grappling Feature in a character that will completely neutralize almost any single opponent in 1 round.

Seager wrote:
Are the repositioning or trip feats worth it?

Sure, if that's what you want.

Seager wrote:
Or should I just focus on survivability and rely on Stand Still to keep the enemies on me?

There are ways. That's really more of a philosophical question. If that's what you want, I have ways.

Seager wrote:
this isn't an MMO and tanking isn't really a thing

It's a different thing, I guess, but it is totally a thing.

Seager wrote:
My intention with the fighter was to play a tanky guy who could manipulate the battlefield, sort've a guy who fought smart rather than hard if that makes sense.

I totally have builds for that, but what I have in mind will get quite a few attacks/round.


Seager wrote:

Hi there, I'm new to these forums and Pathfinder in general but I'm hoping you guys can help me out a bit. I'm playing a fighter that just hit lvl 6 last night and I'm not sure what feat to take or really how to build him in general. My party consists of a swashbuckler focused on damage and looking cool, a priest who focuses on healing and fire spells and a witch focused on buffs/debuffs, all of whom are built very squishy. My intention with the fighter was to play a tanky guy who could manipulate the battlefield, sort've a guy who fought smart rather than hard if that makes sense.

** spoiler omitted **

Unfortunately, I built this guy before reading more extensively on fighters. As I understand it, fighters should specialize on one weapon. And if you're going sword and board you have to go into the dual wielding stuff to do any damage, which honestly, sounds annoying to me. I'd rather not have to make 8 attack rolls and I'd rather spend those feats on something else. So I'm debating whether I should switch it up to a two hander since the damage from that seems to scale better than the AC from a shield. And really, I'm just kind of at a loss on what to take that'll help me keep my party alive. I understand that this isn't an MMO and tanking isn't really a thing but I'm hoping there's stuff that can somehow help me soak up damage for the party. Are the repositioning or trip feats worth it? Or should I just focus on survivability and rely on Stand Still to keep the enemies on me?

As a fellow boardmember who made a Fighter guide (it was two-handed based, but it gave me a lot of understanding about optimization and Fighter values), let me start you off with some observations of your current build.

Current Build Issues:
1. Your skill selection is a little much. Disable Device is only solid if A. you have it as a class skill, and B. you can disable magic traps, like a Rogue can. I understand you're trying to fill the role of disabling traps, but I think there are better ways to disable traps than that. You don't get much skill points as a Fighter, so you'll want to spend them wisely. Things like Profession: Soldier are also not worthwhile, since they are barely used, if at all. Selecting skills that are used a lot, and accomplish a lot with their usage, are the ones you'll want to spend points in. Of course, try not to overlap skills that other party members select, unless the overlap doesn't matter (such as Perception V.S. Knowledge skills).

2. Fast Learner for any Human character is equivalent to the likes of the Toughness feat. The Toughness feat is alright, but I wouldn't pick up feats like those unless you're running out of required feat choices. Feats like Iron Will (which shore up your biggest weakness, a poor Will Save), Improved Initiative, and so on, are much more valuable for those "static" feats, since one bad Will Save is all it can take for you to either miss out on entire combats (and therefore be unable to do your job), or take out your entire team (because charm/dominate spells mean you're now the enemy's biggest asset), and starting late in combat means you're playing a reactive playstyle of halting the enemy advance, when you're trying to play a proactive playstyle of making sure the enemy doesn't advance at all.

3. Weapons like Bastard Swords are really only good in the early levels, where damage dice is the majority of your damage, and static bonuses aren't so common. In the later levels, like you're reaching now, things like Strength, Weapon Enhancements, Weapon Training, Feats, and so on, will really cut down on the value of damage dice, especially if you aren't actively making the damage dice increase in value (which Fighters mostly suck at). My suggestion is to select a different weapon, preferably one where you don't have to do stuff like that. Weapons with 18-20/X2 (which multiply most all of your static bonuses), or with simply better critical multipliers (Falcata is another solid weapon, definitely worth the proficiency feat), are going to be more valuable to your character, especially if damage is a concern.

4. Sword and Board isn't necessarily bad, and doesn't require you to be attacking with your shield (AKA TWF) to be effective. Shields are primarily a defensive boon, and to be honest, trying to attack with your shield as a Fighter is inoptimal; Shield Martials are better as Slayers or Rangers, who can get the best Shield feats without having to deal with ridiculous requirements to acquire them, and can attack with shields without any issue. As Fighters, the requirements are a little steep (even for your well-rounded build), and require spending feats on stuff you probably don't want, to get the stuff you do want. Even then, there are much better options for you, as a Fighter, to make use of.

With the above current issues, here are my suggestions:

Build Suggestions:
1. Look over some of Paizo's soft-cover books for solid Fighter-only/specific options. The Armor Master's, Weapon Master's, and Magic Tactics Toolbox books are a great place to start, and offer the vanilla Fighter amazing options that are well worth the price of admission. Since they're first party products, the GM shouldn't have much of an issue allowing them in comparison to third party products.

The Fighter-specific stuff can be mostly found on the D20PFSRD site; most specifically, here, so you can get a teaser as to what you can expect from the above book suggestions.

2. Talk to the GM about the retraining rules in Ultimate Campaign. Several of your feats, such as Fast Learner and Stand Still, are kind of bad choices in my honest opinion. I understand Stand Still works as a control aspect, which you want to specialize in, but with your current weapon of choice (a Bastard Sword), you are not going to get much accomplished with it, because Stand Still works best when you have Reach to stop them. In other words, either change the feats I suggested into other worthwhile stuff, or change your weapon of choice to have Reach. The Fauchard is a highly valued weapon of choice, since it has 18-20/X2, and Reach, which is practically unheard of.

3. Trip and Reposition feats have fairly hefty requirements, and will not work on a lot of enemies simply due to them being larger sized than you are. There is also a lot of disparity between CMB and CMD, meaning unless you're super-specialized in it (which you aren't, as it'd require class features to supplement your abilities), you're going to fall behind and wish you selected other feats. There are better combat maneuvers to specialize in that don't have to deal with stupid requirements and limited usability. Dirty Tricks and Sunder are prime examples of those (though Sunder can destroy potentially acquired gear, so I'd caution against that and ask the GM how he'd run acquiring gear you've sundered before pursuing it).

**EDIT** Provided a band-aid for my wall-of-text-syndrome.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

I like Pushing Assault. It lets you trade out the extra damage from Power Attack to move your opponent back 5 feet (10 feet on a crit). That, combined with Stand Still and a high-threat range weapon (fauchard or scimitar, etc.) and a five foot step, can keep opponents back 10 feet, which prevents them from 5-foot stepping and full attacking you. Lunge also helps with this.

If you just want to make 1 big attack instead of multiple smaller attacks, Vital Strike with a two-handed weapon is an option. With a greatsword, you could do 4d6+6 (4d6+12 with Power Attack) on a hit; but you could get 2d6+6 PLUS 2d6+6 (or 2d6+12 PLUS 2d6+12) if you hit with both iterative attacks...

Both Lunge and Vital Strike require +6 BAB, which you just got.


Wow. This is a ton of information to process and mull over. Thanks for all the help and advice, guys.

Let me try to clarify a few things. Firstly, we're using the retraining rules outlined here. So retraining a couple feats or skills wouldn't be ridiculous but I can't change my race. Not that I'd want to necessarily, as I've always loved playing a boring human in a world of elves and dwarves for some strange reason.

Secondly, I'm not opposed to making full attacks or anything really, it just seems that with TWF you're making so many attacks that each turn in combat will take half an hour and that seems rude to the other players.

Now overall, it seems like sword and board is perfectly fine even without TWF however, in order to use Stand Still(and possibly eventually Combat Patrol), I need a reach weapon? So that seems my biggest choice, switch to a reach weapon(which are all two handed?) or retrain Stand Still to something better.

Oh and regarding my skill choices, I'm inclined to agree that Disable Device was a waste. I originally thought I'd be able to get away with wearing breastplate but that hasn't been the case. I think I really need to get Full Plate asap which will destroy my Disable Device check. And Profession I really only took for RP reasons, I'm not opposed to not putting any more ranks in it. However, I'm not really sure what other useful skills there would be for me. We have most of the knowledge skills taken care of, only missing dungeoneering and engineering I believe, our swashbuckler and cleric both have very solid conversational skills and our witch has survival down pat.


stand still doesn't work for reach, since it only works when they provoke being adjacent and reach isn't adjacent


Seager wrote:

Wow. This is a ton of information to process and mull over. Thanks for all the help and advice, guys.

Let me try to clarify a few things. Firstly, we're using the retraining rules outlined here. So retraining a couple feats or skills wouldn't be ridiculous but I can't change my race. Not that I'd want to necessarily, as I've always loved playing a boring human in a world of elves and dwarves for some strange reason.

Secondly, I'm not opposed to making full attacks or anything really, it just seems that with TWF you're making so many attacks that each turn in combat will take half an hour and that seems rude to the other players.

Now overall, it seems like sword and board is perfectly fine even without TWF however, in order to use Stand Still(and possibly eventually Combat Patrol), I need a reach weapon? So that seems my biggest choice, switch to a reach weapon(which are all two handed?) or retrain Stand Still to something better.

Oh and regarding my skill choices, I'm inclined to agree that Disable Device was a waste. I originally thought I'd be able to get away with wearing breastplate but that hasn't been the case. I think I really need to get Full Plate asap which will destroy my Disable Device check. And Profession I really only took for RP reasons, I'm not opposed to not putting any more ranks in it. However, I'm not really sure what other useful skills there would be for me. We have most of the knowledge skills taken care of, only missing dungeoneering and engineering I believe, our swashbuckler and cleric both have very solid conversational skills and our witch has survival down pat.

Human race is fine. If anything, I would've suggested the Dual Talent alternate racial trait, since you're already a Fighter and get feats every level, and the skill point per level won't absolutely destroy you (since it appears you actually have a positive Intelligence, which is good), and can be shored up via your Favored Class Bonus.

As long as your bonuses to hit and damage are properly calculated, and you designate what you're applying to your attacks (such as Power Attack, Combat Expertise, and so on), full attacks don't take a whole lot of time. TWF does make it take longer, since you're factoring in more attack rolls (and more penalties/modifiers to your to-hit), but nobody is saying that you should TWF. Basic iteratives with a Sword and Board are fine, and can still certainly be competent.

That's what I'd suggest. Stand Still might help against medium-sized enemies who are using basic weapons and trying to go after your squishies, but if enemies have reach weapons, or are larger sized, Stand Still will not do you a whole lot of good. I don't personally like it as a feat because of that factor; if it factored in the wielder's reach, it could certainly be powerful, but because adjacent is required...

As far as the whole two-handed thing, there is a feat in the Armor Master's Handbook, called Shield Brace, with Shield Focus as a pre-requisite, and it allows the following:

Shield Brace wrote:
Benefit: You can use a two-handed weapon sized appropriately for you from the polearm or spears weapon group while also using a light, heavy, or tower shield with which you are proficient. The shield's armour check penalty (if any) applies to attacks made with the weapon.

So, you could pick up a Masterwork Light Shield (or Mithril Heavy Shield) and a Nodachi (which is considered under the Polearm Weapon Group, and has the 18-20/X2 multiplier you'd want), and deal just as much damage as a Two-Handed guy, while having the defenses of a Sword and Board guy.

Ironically enough, Dungeoneering and Engineering are both class skills for the Fighter, so I'd suggest putting points in those instead of Disable Device (and either Profession: Soldier or Geography), as Aberrations and Constructs (the latter being one of the more powerful enemies to deal with) are creatures that you will want to have a solid understanding of, otherwise you'll be left to either run or die.


Seager wrote:


Now overall, it seems like sword and board is perfectly fine even without TWF however, in order to use Stand Still(and possibly eventually Combat Patrol), I need a reach weapon? So that seems my biggest choice, switch to a reach weapon(which are all two handed?) or retrain Stand Still to something better.

You certainly don't need a reach weapon; sword and board would work just fine. A reach weapon would just optimize some things. If you wanted to do Combat patrol, for example, at level 10 you have your normal 5' reach, plus 10' from your BAB for 15. With a reach weapon you have 20'. If you're getting enlarged with a spell/wand/potion, you're at 25'. If you take Lunge as a feat, you could have a 30' radius AOO zone. It just increases your options for interrupting enemy movement or positioning to defend squishes, soak attacks for your swashbuckler, etc.

I'm always a fan of having weapons for every occasion, though, rather than specializing in only one. Have a main/favored from your first weapon training, but you get other groups as you level, so take advantage. Always carry a bow. Have a backup weapon in case you're disarmed or have your main broken (rust monsters suck), and maybe an option or two to bypass DR for slashing/bludgeoning/piercing.


How avaliable are magic items in your campaign? How much wealth is in your campaign? Is your character likely to have free time?

What I'm getting at is sometimes a character build is designed to have certain, specific magic items. In Pathfinder Soceity, Magic Items are pretty much available on the market at market price. In your campaign, that's up to the GM.

In particular, I'm thinking about your armor. You want to be tanky, you say. Are you wearing heavy armor? The rules penalize players who sleep in heavy armor, and if you find yourself in combat before you put your armor on, you're stuck fighting in your underwear. Most GMs love doing that to Fighters If you have the Endurance Feat, you can sleep in Medium Armor. If you are wearing Mithril Armor, it counts as 1 type lighter. So I guess you could take the Endurance Feat, perhaps by retraining 3 levels in Fighter with 3 in Ranger, and acquire Mithril Full Plate, but Mithril Full Plate costs like 10,000gp.

There is a Spell, Swift Girding, that lets you don any suit of armor as a Standard Action. Then you can go ahead and sleep out of your armor, and when a Learnean Hydra or a Hill Giant wanders up to your camp fire (as haa happened to me, you only delay 1/2 round to dress in your armor, then you're in business.

I was thinking that a good idea might be if you were to retrain 1 of your Fighter Levels to 1 level in Paladin, your character could use a Wand of Swift Girding. That's only viable if your campaign world is the kind of place where one might buy things like Level 1 Wands. Also, Paladins get +2 on their Will Saves at level 1, and other things, so you could swap out Iron Will for something else.


Seager wrote:
My intention with the fighter was to play a tanky guy who could manipulate the battlefield...we're using the retraining rules outlined here

Okay, How about this build?

1Ranger1: Archetype, Freebooter, Freebooter's bane, Weapon Focus Klar, 2 Weapon
2R2: Shield Slam
3R2Fighter1: Weapon Focus Earthbreaker, Thunder and Fang
4R2F2: Power Attack
5R2F3: Improved Bull Rush
6R2F4: Greater Buill Rush

A Klar is pretty much a light spiked shield that does slashing damage instead of piercing damage and counts as a 1 handed weapon on a Shield Bash.

With Thunder and Fang, you can wield an Earthbreaker Hammer as a 1 handed Weapon and the Klar as a Light Weapon that keeps its AC Bonus when Shield Bashing with it.

With Shield Slam, you get a free Bull Rush with every Shield Bash. There is some debate as to whether Improved and Greater bull rush will still give you the +4 bonus when you are Bull Rushing via Shield Slam--check with your GM--but what GBR will surely do is grant all your allies attacks of opportunity on the guy you Bull Rushed.

I have that Wand question again. If you can, acquire a Wand of Lead Blades, a level 1 Ranger Spell. It will raise the damage of your Earthbreaker from 2d6 to 3d6 due to a Virtual Size Increase.

I have 2 thoughts on where to go next with this character: 1 level in Cavalier or 3 levels in Inquisitor. Pretty much for the same reason: The Paired Opportunist Feat and the ability to cash in on it. With Paired Opporunist, whenever one of you gets an AoO, all of you do, but you all have to have that Feat. At level 1, Cavaliers get an ability called Tactician, which grants everybody your Teamwork Feat as a Standard Action for 3 Rounds, so you get you AoO, too. Inquisitors get their special ability after 3 levels, but theirs works better for this: Solo Tactics lets them just sort of act like all their allies have their Teamwork Feat. In addition, those levels in Inquisitor will give you other effects that will offset those non martial bonuses, you get some spells, and you get better Will Saves. At the same level you get Paired Opportunist, you'd take Combat Reflexes. I guess, since you have CR already, then you can just keep it and get GBR 1 level later. But I am pretty much telling you to retrain all your feats, and 2 levels in Ranger instead of Fighter.

There is something else to take that level in Cavalier for: the Harder they Fall Feat. There is a maximum size limit on what you can Bull Rush, but HtF gets around that. Cashing in on HtF as an Inquisitor is more dicy from a game mechanic standpoint.

Maybe somewhere throw in the Spiked Destroyer Feat, which gives you a Swift Action Armor Spike attack whenever you Bull Rush.

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