| Meophist |
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Hello. I've been reading a bunch of threads here and have come across the subject of the Fighter's power. I've read some things suggesting that the Fighter is lacking in power, or to be more precise, in versatility. Considering my experience with the game, I'm probably one of the last people who should try to fix something like this, or know if it even should be fixed, but I want to try anyways as sometimes my mind fills up with ideas and I kinda want to try doing something with them.
The idea so far comes in the form of an archetype. This archetype is stronger than the base fighter but I don't think it's out of the line of the stronger classes. It comes with the goal of making the Fighter more flexible and easier to use, but not necessarily giving it more raw power, as that's something that the Fighter does not seem to necessarily need.
That said, I don't know much about balance and stuff, so if it's possible, having help in those fields would be nice. Additionally, if you have any other ideas, criticisms, or whatever, that'll be nice to hear as well. So anyways, here's the idea:
Trained Fighter
Skill Training (Ex): The Trained Fighter gains 2 bonus skill points per level. These bonus skill points are applied before the Intelligence modifier.
Bonus Feats: The Trained Fighter gains Iron Will as a bonus feat at the 1st level. This replaces the bonus feat gained at the 1st level. For the purpose of archetypes, this does not count as changing or replacing the 1st level bonus feat, and may be replaced or changed by another archetype.
Combat Training (Ex): At the 2nd level and every even level afterwards, the Trained Fighter gains a Combat Training Stage. Lower-numbered stages are considered to be prerequisites for the higher-numbered stages in the same type. This replaces the bonus feats the Fighter gains at each even level.
Retraining (Ex): Starting from the 2nd level, the Trained Fighter may retrain a Combat Training Stage by training for an hour a day for a week. By doing this, the Trained Fighter may lose a Combat Training Stage that's not a prerequisite for anything else to gain another Combat Training Stage they meet the prerequisites for.
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Combat Training
Two-Weapon Training
Stage I - The Fighter gains Two-Weapon Fighting and Two-Weapon Defense as bonus feats.
Stage II(Prerequisites: Level 6 Fighter) - The Fighter gains Improved Two-Weapon Fighting and Double Slice as bonus feats. Additionally, the Fighter may now move up to half their move speed in between attacks while using Two-Weapon Fighting. This movement may be done in 5-feet increments and cannot be used in the same turn as a 5-foot step. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal.
Stage III(Prerequisites: Level 11 Fighter) - The Fighter gains Greater Two-Weapon Fighting and Two-Weapon Rend as bonus feats. Additionally, the Fighter may now attack twice, once with each weapon, as a Standard action, taking normal Two-Weapon Fighting penalties.
Endurance Training
Stage I - The Fighter gains Endurance and Diehard as bonus feats.
Stage II(Prerequisites: Level 6 Fighter) - The Fighter gains Toughness and Heroic Recovery as a bonus feats.
Stage III(Prerequisites: Level 10 Fighter) - The Fighter gains Heroic Defiance as a bonus feat. Additionally, as a Standard Action, the Fighter may attempt a DC20 Will save. If the Fighter succeeds, the Fighter gains the benefit of the Freedom of Movement spell for 1 minute. This is considered an Extraordinary Ability.
Stage IV(Prerequisites: Level 14 Fighter) - The Fighter gains fire resistance 10 and cold resistance 10. Additionally, the Fighter gains the effect of a continuous Endure Elements spell. This is considered an Extraordinary Ability.
Two-Handed Weapon Training
Stage I - The Fighter gains Power Attack and Cleave as bonus feats.
Stage II - The Fighter gains Furious Focus, Great Cleave, and one of Improved Bull Rush, Improved Drag, Improved Overrun, or Improved Sunder as bonus feats.
Stage III - The Fighter gains Cleaving Finish, Improved Cleaving Finish, and the Greater version of the feat picked for Stage II as bonus feats. Additionally, when you deal damage with a weapon that you are wielding two-handed, you deal twice your strength bonus instead of 1-1/2 times.
Archery Training
Stage I - The Fighter gains Precise Shot and Rapid Shot as bonus feats.
(Sniper Subtype)Stage II(Prerequisites: Level 6 Fighter) - The Fighter gains Far Shot, Manyshot, and Clustered Shots as bonus feats.
(Point-Blank Shooter Subtype)Stage II - The Fighter gains Point-Blank Shot and Snap Shot as bonus feats.
Tactics Training
Stage I - The Fighter gains a teamwork feat as a bonus feat. The Fighter must meet the prerequisites for the feat. As a standard action, the Fighter can grant the feat to all allies that are within the number of feet equal to the Fighter's Charisma modifier times 5 who can hear and see the Fighter. The allies do not need to meet the prerequisites for the feat. This lasts for 5 rounds. Additionally, once per target per day, the Fighter may substitute an applicable knowledge check for an attack roll.
Okay, my brain seems to have stopped working, so I'll stop for now. Ideally, each of these training types would have 3-4 stages and there'll be a bunch of types for different types of training for common Fighter types, including stuff like the trip-happy versions which I've thought up of but seems to have taken a leave from my brain at the moment. Although some of this stuff is kinda lazy, I want to go beyond simple feats for these abilities.
In any case, I want to know what you guys think about this idea. Possible expansions would work too, as well as balancing and stuff.
...I'm probably an idiot for posting all this stuff.
| Atarlost |
This does lock out any build that wants to take combat feats outside your lists at even levels. It's good for cookie cutter builds and bad for outside the box builds which I would consider a bug rather than a feature.
Basically you need to create a track for every character concept. And start your games at level 2.
Dex based elven two handed fighter? I'd need weapon finesse and power attack at level 1. Now I can't progress up either weapon training tree without a dead feat and I can't retrain general feats ever.
Nonhuman archer? With a normal fighter I can get point blank shot and precise shot at level 1 and be functional. With this I'm stuck with Iron Will, which usually has a lower priority (no priority at all if a dip in a strong will save class is planned) and even if I'm human they'll both be completely wasted feats as I progress. No archers at level 1 with this fighter.