| Korahir |
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I thought I dedicate a whole thread to the class that worries me most. Maybe we can gather all small and big suggestions here.
The long version:
Casters have gotten closer to the fighter when it comes to combat abilities. The proficiency system allows casters to not trail much behind the Fighter. Level 1 Fighters add +6 to their attack. All level 1 casters I built so far added +3 as I always ended up with Dex or Str 14. On the damage side of things the fighter mostly rolled d12 or d10 +4 while my casters either rolled d4 and d6 and added nothing when dex based or rolled d10 or d12 and added +2 when str based. All in all pretty close to each other and I am fine with that. Bringing classes closer to each other means usually a more balanced game experience. But: Fighters are still stuck in combat only. I tried building an Elven Fighter focused on Dex and Int that could handle combat like the heavy armored strenght based brutes abd dabble in Society and Craft. So far I didn't come up with something satisfying that would justify my investment in Intelligence. Either my Wisdom or my Constitution suffered too hard to keep up with other melee options. I tried to sell the fighter to other players as something interesting. Didn't work at all because it lacks distinct flavor. Expert in Perception and martial weapons just isn't cool enough to give up a flavorful barbarian with their totems or paladins with their codes and champion powers. Rangers have a distinct flavor with their options and monks have stances and more. All these classes offer abilities that reward investments in mental ability scores.
The short version:
-Fighters need a theme besides expert in combat and perception.My suggestion would be to create options in the same way a sorcerer chooses a bloodline. I.e. Slaver: trained/Signature skills in Stealth and Society. Feats based around nonlethal damage and hampered conditions. Capstone possibly dominate effect. Bodyguard (Society and Diplomacy, Sword and Board, capstone shield other effect), Soldier (Craft and Medicine, effects based on allies in combat like the dog in the bestiary or the goblin scuttle, capstone?), Pirate (Acrobatics and Nature, One hand free fighting, Capstone?)
-Regarding overall ability distribution I would suggest granting some bonuses to the fighter in combat, exploration and downtime based on Intelligence.
- Increase Skills gained by the class drastically. Fighters need to be able to contribute in Exploration and downtime. I'd suggest 5 + int at least.
-Add Finesse Striker to the Fighter chassis. Allows Fighters to keep Strength at 10 and Dex is already a key ability.This would free up ability points to spend on Mental stats. Does not invalidate the Rogue as he still has Sneak attack and loads of different rogue feats.