Starting a new campaign tomorrow, and based on the rest of the party, I'll be going Fighter.
We'll be starting at level 1 with 15 point buy, and we're only allowed to use material from the Core Rulebook (plus Armored Kilt).
The rest of the party will consist of a Rogue and a Support Wizard focused on Necromancy.
How does this build look? I'm particularly wondering about the feats.
Human Fighter 1
STR 18
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 7
WIS 13
CHA 7
Human +2 went into Strength. Planning to put my first attribute increase into Wisdom for the Perception and Will save bumps, then put the rest into Strength.
1 Toughness, Combat Reflexes, Cleave
2 Power Attack
3 Step Up
4 Great Cleave
5 Iron Will
6 Improved Initiative
7 Greater Iron Will
8 *Weapon Focus, *Greater Weapon Focus (drop Great Cleave)
9 Critical Focus
10 *Improved Critical
11 Bleeding Critical
12 *Weapon Specialization, *Greater Weapon Specialization (drop Cleave)
13 Staggering Critical
14 Critical Mastery
15 Blinding Critical
16 ?
17 Stunning Critical
18 ?
19 ?
20 ?
* Requires a particular weapon. Trying to delay this choice as much as I can, since it'll give more flexibility with what loot we find, and if we come across any sort of artifact weapons. This will most likely end up being a Falchion, though.
2 skill points per level.
Max Perception.
3 points in Acrobatics for the bonus to Fighting Defensively.
Split the rest between Climb and Swim.
175gp budget.
147gp 1sp spent.
Adventuring Gear (7gp 1sp)
Backpack (2gp)
Bedroll (1sp)
8x Trail Rations (4gp)
Waterskin (1gp)
Weapons (70gp)
Small Glaive (one handed reach weapon, slashing. 8gp)
Rapier (piercing. 20gp)
Warhammer (bludgeoning. 12gp)
Shortbow (ranged, piercing. 30gp)
Planning to wield both the Small Glaive and the Rapier most of the time, threatening both reach and adjacent squares. No attempt will be made to use one as an offhand. Warhammer and Shortbow are just in case we need ranged or bludgeoning damage for whatever reason. Long term plan is to switch to a Falchion, unless loot provides something exceptional.
Armor (70 gp)
Scale Mail (+5 AC. 50gp)
Armored Kilt (+1 AC. 20 gp)
The idea here is to use both armors until I get the first rank of Armor Training (level 3), at which point I drop the Armored Kilt. Once I get the second rank of Armor Training (level 7), I'll put it back on until I get a good set of heavy armor -- preferably Mithral Full Plate.
Anyone?
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I suppose it is a valid build, but I generally don't have much use for cleave, and putting off specialization like that doesn't seem like a good idea to me. I'd grab the focus/specialization tree instead of the diversion.
Oh, and I honestly think the small glaive idea is bad. Taking a hit on to hit is not prudent especially at low level. Just start with the falchion and deal with no reach. The idea of using two weapons, one at a time to threaten more area doesn't seem worth the hits in either AC or damage that you are giving up. Heck, just get armor spikes and use a reach weapon if you really want reach.
You don't qualify for Cleave at first level. I hope the rogue or wizard are taking care of all social aspects for you. I would personally not allow the small reach weapon.
Maybe balance your stats a bit?
Ahh, you're right, I switched up those pre-reqs. Thanks much.
Yeah, I think I'll go ahead and just switch to Falchion up front, and rearrange feats to match. So...
1 Toughness, Combat Reflexes, Power Attack
2 Improved Initiative
3 Iron Will
4 Step Up
5 *Weapon Focus
6 *Weapon Specialization
7 Greater Iron Will
8 *Improved Critical
9 *Greater Weapon Focus
10 Critical Focus
11 Bleeding Critical
12 *Greater Weapon Specialization
13 Staggering Critical
14 Critical Mastery
15 Blinding Critical
16 ?
17 Stunning Critical
18 ?
19 ?
20 ?
Still delaying Weapon Focus and all until at least 5, to give some manner of flexibility if needed, but commit at the same time as choosing my first weapon group for Weapon Training.
That seems like a reasonable compromise (though personally I jump for weapon specialization as fast as I can, since it is one of the few good unique fighter things).
With the changes so far, it seems solid, though there are a couple changes you can implement.
As far as Step Up, I wouldn't even use that as a feat (unless you plan to obtain all 3 at some point, but that feat alone doesn't provide too much), so I'd recommend you select another feat. Blind-Fight would be a pretty good feat, since by that level you will probably be facing ghosts or other encounters that have melee miss chance. Improved Initiative would also be a great one, netting you a +6 Initiative, which is fairly good for a Fighter.
Don't forget you also get 2 Traits to select upon character creation (unless your group is not doing Traits), meaning you can also get another +2 to Initiative (Reactionary) as well as a +1 to Will Saves (Indomitable Faith).
For some of the blanks, you could get Lightning Reflexes (and possibly the Improved Version), as well as Lunge, Skill Focus (Perception), etc.
There's also Disruptive and Spellbreaker which pair VERY well with Step Up. (Caster takes a five foot step back to cast, you say no no no and make them have to think harder.)
Penetrating Strike and its Greater version are good later level fights for you as well. Plus 5 and plus 10 damage against most enemies you encounter.
I second the Blind Fight recommendation. You're human, so you can get caught in the dark a lot.
Diehard is a fun (noncombat) feat. Sadly it requires Endurance which isn't as fun. Most DMs hardly make it worth while unless you plan to sleep in medium armor.
Nimble moves is a handy feat you can find yourself using a lot. Not a combat feat so you can only take it at odd levels. Acrobatic Steps is the logical follow up but that requires 15 Dex.
That's a good list, yeah? My money's on Disruptive and Spellbreaker with the Penetrating Strikes.
Ah, Penetrating Strike is actually worthwhile to spend feats on as well. Ignoring DR is like adding damage to your attacks against certain creatures for which it applies, so it's definitely a fair enough feat to choose.
Nimble Moves and Acrobatic Steps are garbage feats; he can very easily accomplish that with a cheap magic item (or two), and the net gain from those feats would show that other selections are better choices.
Diehard is okay; it's nice to avoid laying there dead. Endurance being a pre-req can easily be a turn-off, but if he is going to wear Mithral Heavy Armor, Endurance will actually be worthwhile (being able to sleep in Mithral Heavy Armor and all).
Disruptive and Spellbreaker are useless as well. By mid level, his capability of interrupting their spellcasting goes out the window, since by that point casters have a +20 minimum to their Concentration check, and the DC bumped by those two feats would only be a +4 at best.
The Step Up line of feats could have been worthwhile to use if he achieved them early to where it can be helpful. Getting them for as late as he otherwise would (due to his superior feat selections) severely reduces the feat chain's value, because by the endgame, you're facing things that don't need to resort to "Oh, I 5-foot step" tactics; you're facing things that have Fly-By Attack, Ride-By Attack, Pounce, you name it, and chances are it has it.
Are those magic items in the CRB?
Anyway, it seems the best missing four feats could be Diehard (and therefore endurance) and the two Penetrating strikes.
The other option would be to take Improved Maneuver feats based off of power attack. Not much sense in taking those feats late, by my reckoning. CMB gets either too high or the maneuver becomes impossible to perform.
The Step Up line of feats could have been worthwhile to use if he achieved them early to where it can be helpful. Getting them for as late as he otherwise would (due to his superior feat selections) severely reduces the feat chain's value, because by the endgame, you're facing things that don't need to resort to "Oh, I 5-foot step" tactics; you're facing things that have Fly-By Attack, Ride-By Attack, Pounce, you name it, and chances are it has it.
I agree that Step Up is better at some levels than others, and better with the rest of the chain. One possibility is to learn Step Up early with a Fighter Bonus Feat, and retrain it at a later level. You get a retrain at 12th level, which is just in time to select a good critical feat.