Vandril's page

Ok,I want to reiterate that there are reasons not related to the mechanics of this game to play a Fighter. I have no negative anything for people who play one because they want to. I'm one of those people. But casting adds dimension to a character and allows him to do cool stuff. That's why anyone you ask to rank the classes puts casters at the top.

What I'm looking for here are ideas for how a Fighter can be brought up to par with some of the casting classes. A fighter can do good amounts of damage and have a high AC but with buffs a Cleric will do the same thing better and have better saves doing it. An Oracle with the Battle focus will probably do likewise. This is what I'm talking about. No class in the game should be better at hitting dudes with heavy stuff than the fighter. Right now there are several. Am I the only person who thinks that is wrong?

Crunching the numbers and best gear,etc etc, a fighter can top the ac over any combination. The other thing the fighter has over a caster doing the tank build is that he requires no prep time. I'm looking at end game too, so if there is a level range that they get edged out, let me know.

As far as hitting harder, I think you could make a case that the barbarian could do more damage than the fighter, and that's by design. Hence the lack of armor for the barbarian.

The fighter is going to do just under the barbarian however, because he doesn't get some of the cool Rage abilities and is going to get hit far less.

One edge that the fighter has is dual wielding weapons. Over multiple hits, they can do much more damage in general.

The fighter in 3,5 was weak and with very few options.

The fighter in Pathfinder is strong and (again) with very few options.

He needs to be able to do more things, and have more choices in a combat.

Now I don't mean that he should jump 100 ft in air while he is surrounded by an aura of energy and hit the ground causing a shockwave.

What I have in mind is things like combat expertise, maybe including the swift/immediate action economy.

For example a feat that allows him to withdraw his attention from the battle and turn it inwards, sacrificing an immediate action to gain a bonus in WILL equal to the penalty in his BAB (see resolute in complete champion).

Or another one that allows him to feint as a swift action, roll his BAB against his opponents BAB and if he succeeds, his opponent is flat footed for the next ONE attack the fighter makes.

Other feats that allow him to parry (worse than a duelist) or use combat expertise as an immediate action shouldn't be too far fetched for the fighter.

Little things like that will make combat much more interesting for the player.

All that said I could play a fighter right now and have a blast.
It just gets kinda boring after some sessions.

John John, I think you are on to something there. The problem is, if you go too far, you end up with something like the warblade from Book of Nine Swords (which was better than any 3.5 fighter could ever be). It just needs to be something that makes sense for the fighter flavor, that doesn't take away from someone that specializes in area.

The question is, why should the fighter be the only one who essentially gets to use combat based feats as a swift action? Even occasionally. Looking at your examples of combat expertise and improved feint, a rogue would kill for that ability.

The fighter definitely needs something in the swift/immediate action area.