(Not trying to steal Jason Nelson's thunder, just his thread naming convention.)
Instead of new fighter class features, swappable feats, fighter-only feats, or feats that only scale for fighters:
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Combat Training (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, a fighter adds +1 to his base attack bonus for the purpose of meeting feat prerequisites. For every four fighter levels thereafter (7th, 11th, ec.), the fighter adds an additional +1.
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The idea here is that fighters are supposed to be really good at acquiring combat feats. So instead of tacking on class features that have nothing to do with combat feats, we add this feat-related class feature. It makes fighters better at acquiring feats without resorting to complicated retraining mechanics. It also avoids the word-count-intensive need for scalable or fighter-only feats. Make all combat feats equally useful to all that take them, and make them available to all warriors based on BAB; it's just that fighters get more of them and qualify faster for them than anyone else, even other warriors.
And if you would still like to see feats that can only be used by high-level fighters, no problem; instead of having fighter levels as prerequisites, just have BAB prerequisites of +21 or higher. Note that, by adding the above class feature to fighters, fighters of 17th and higher level qualify for feats requiring +21 BAB, so all such feats could effectively be 'fighter capstone feats' in non-epic campaigns.
Epiphany - "I do not think it means what you think it means." - Inigo Montoya Princess Bride
Interesting idea. I'm not sure if it's better putting the text here or in the feats. My thought is that the extra verbiage in the feat is Ok because it keeps the intent clear. Splitting the qualifications up into two places increases the complexity of building characters. I don't think adding the phrase "and either Fighter X or BAB +Y" for a dozen feats on lines which most likely won't wrap is going to really hurt the page count.
(Edit: Removed the part of this post where I was completely misunderstanding da Ogre's comment.)
If it weren't for backwards compatibility, I would be suggesting an even simpler change: fighters get an extra +1 to BAB on 3rd level and every four levels thereafter, period. Their attack rolls get better, they qualify for feats and prestige classes faster, they get multiple attacks earlier, etc.
That wouldn't require any extra text anywhere. Just replace the 1-per-1 BAB progression on the fighter advancement table with a slightly faster BAB progression that only fighters get.
But a fighter-only, faster-than-1-per-1 BAB progression isn't backwards compatible; hence limiting my suggestion to that in the OP. (Which, incidentally, I don't think would require rewording any feats, provided the combat training text was written clearly enough.)
Epic Meepo wrote: (Not trying to steal Jason Nelson's thunder, just his thread naming convention.)
Instead of new fighter class features, swappable feats, fighter-only feats, or feats that only scale for fighters:
---
Combat Training (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, a fighter adds +1 to his base attack bonus for the purpose of meeting feat prerequisites. For every four fighter levels thereafter (7th, 11th, ec.), the fighter adds an additional +1.
---
The idea here is that fighters are supposed to be really good at acquiring combat feats. So instead of tacking on class features that have nothing to do with combat feats, we add this feat-related class feature. It makes fighters better at acquiring feats without resorting to complicated retraining mechanics. It also avoids the word-count-intensive need for scalable or fighter-only feats. Make all combat feats equally useful to all that take them, and make them available to all warriors based on BAB; it's just that fighters get more of them and qualify faster for them than anyone else, even other warriors.
And if you would still like to see feats that can only be used by high-level fighters, no problem; instead of having fighter levels as prerequisites, just have BAB prerequisites of +21 or higher. Note that, by adding the above class feature to fighters, fighters of 17th and higher level qualify for feats requiring +21 BAB, so all such feats could effectively be 'fighter capstone feats' in non-epic campaigns.
I like it.
It's simple and elegant and puts the rules text where it needs to be (with the fighter class description) and not where it doesn't (everybody else).
All combat feats get BAB prereqs, which makes them useful for all warrior types, harder to get for fighting partial BAB characters, and fastest and easiest of all for fighters themselves.
Count me in.
PS - Thunder duly stolen!
If you go this route why not just count weapon training bonus to base attack for feat qualification, asves more space that way, not sure if I like the idea or not though, will need some thought.
If you assume the feats have been properly scaled and balanced. the BAB requirement should be telling you what level this ability is appropriate. If you can suddenly get it sooner it will be potentially unbalancing to the game. That would be like allowing spellcasters to take certain spells one level sooner.
Remember prerequisites should exist to assure that powers enter the game at an appropriate time in relation to their power level
ckafrica wrote: That would be like allowing spellcasters to take certain spells one level sooner. There are many spells that different classes get at different spell levels. Is animate dead unbalanced because clerics get to take it one spell level earlier than wizards? Not at all; it just happens that clerics qualify for animate dead faster than wizards. Likewise, fighters could qualify for combat feats faster than other warrior classes.
Recent threads in Classes: Barbarian, Fighter, and Ranger
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