Damage and Armor focused Fighter Optimization

[Lavios Daleborn]

I'm making a fighter who's focus is mostly on dealing and taking heavy punishment. I plan on the fighter being human for the extra feat and +2 to one ability score. The ability scores I have now are:
(20 point buy)

Str: 20 (Including +2 from being human)
Dex: 9
Con: 16
Int: 7
Wis: 7
Cha: 10

I'm planning on using a Bastard Sword one-handed and a Heavy Steel Shield, so I'm taking Exotic Weapon Proficiency and I'm taking Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword). I know I get a third feat but I'm not sure on what I should get. What exactly could I do to make my character better before I finalize him?

[master_marshmallow]

Those stats are pretty rough there guy.

Most of the time the best fighter builds you are gonna see balance those stats more, dumping WIS is a terrible, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE idea because you already have bad will saves.

You really shouldn't need a STR higher than 18, and putting all your effort into having a 20 STR just leads to problems, like, your DEX for example.

Fighters get armor training which means you can actually apply a DEX score higher than +1 to your AC even in heavy armor. Taking advantage of that would be ideal.

Is this for PFS? Is this for a home game? Is this just theory crafting? What books are allowed and to what level are you planning on getting to?

For the stat line, I would personally recommend:
STR 18; DEX 14; CON 14; INT 10; WIS 12; CHA 8
You won't notice a big difference in DPR, but a gigantic notice in survivability with an AC that is 3 points higher. The extra hit points can be picked up with Toughness or Fast Learner.

As for feats, going sword and board typically should mean you carry a shield around, but don't use it unless you are going the shield master TWF route. Since you didn't take TWF, I'm gonna guess that means you just wanna smack things with your sword. Bastard Sword takes a feat to use, and quite frankly, even though you are a fighter, there are better things to spend feats on. You are better off either taking a longsword and using it two handed until you find yourself in need of AC and drawing your shield, or nixing the use of the shield all together and picking up a BFS like a Nodachi or Falchion.

For high damage output, Power Attack is a must. I would also recommend Dodge if you want more AC, and either Toughness or Fast Learner will add to your HP pool.

Weapon Focus is also a pretty big deal, along with its successors in the feat chain.

As for traits, remember to pick up Defender of the Society, since it gets you a +1 to your AC in heavy armor as a trait bonus. And trait bonuses are nice because they apply to all forms of AC including Touch and Flat Footed.

For earlier levels it may be best to stick with medium armor as you will need the mobility until level 7 when you can move around in heavy armor. It's also a lot cheaper than heavy armor at the earlier levels.

[Akerlof]

Seconded about dumping Wisdom as well as Dex. You're tanking your already weak saves: It doesn't matter what your AC is when you're asleep or running scared.

Do you have access to the Advanced Race Guide? If so, Humans have the Dual Talent alternate race trait, picking up a second +2 to a stat in trade for their bonus feat and the bonus skill point at each level.

With that, I would suggest either:

Str 18 (16+2)
Dex 13 (Opens up the Dodge line of feats)
Con 16 (14+2)
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 10

Alternatively, if you really only care about Str and Con you can get:

Str 18
Dex 10
Con 18
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 10

But that still leaves you with weaker saves, low initiative and less build flexibility.

Sword + shield is really strong at low levels: Enemies have low attack bonuses and few HPs so you can still kill them fast while they have serious problems hitting you. I wouldn't suggest putting too much feat investment into that style, (unless you're going two weapon fighting with sword and shield) because it peters out fast. Even by level 3 or 4 enemies start having high attack bonuses (+10 or better on "boss" monsters) and hit points in the 30-60 range. They'll hit you pretty often regardless, but when you hit them you don't knock an appreciable amount of HP away.

So I would suggest going ahead with the sword and shield setup. But hold off on picking up defensive, shield focused feats and magic items until you get a few levels under your belt and can see for yourself whether or not that style will work in your campaign. Also, don't be afraid to drop the shield and two hand the sword when the going gets tough.