So I've been thinking of ways to bump the power of the base Fighter class without completely changing the flavor of the class. My overall feeling about the place of the Fighter class in the world of Pathfinder:
Pathfinder is a world full of magic, monsters, and a general supernatural freak show. A Fighter picks up a sword and says "Yeah, I think I can take that head-on," with no spells, no supernatural abilities, and generally nothing but his* own prowess**. He is a martial specialist who has poured all of his training into preparing himself to survive in this sort of world. Other classes spent time and energy to learn magic, or learn to harness supernatural abilities (like Cleaving a spell asunder). The Fighter poured all of his energy into physical and mental training. I've reflected this in bonus AC and saves (which scale by level), and ease of feats that other classes do not have, as well as some extra damage in more mobile fights. Fighter already does very nice damage in fights where he can just stand toe-to-toe with an enemy and full attack. I didn't see any good reason to bump this up more.
At the end of the day, what I'm hoping is that these changes would give the Fighter a material edge in toe-to-toe combat over martial classes, that will be approximately balanced out by the additional spells and abilities they bring to the table***. I scaled the bonuses by around what other classes gain in supernatural abilities as time goes on.
I'm mostly looking at this for homebrew, since I don't think Paizo would adopt it (mostly because a lot of Archetypes have traded out Bravery and Armor Training, and possibly because it makes a Fighter too easy to build for worlds where the DM already just has monsters walk up and full attack, rather than skirmishing, casting spells, and using more tactical combat). That being said, I'm hoping for feedback on these ideas, and if people have suggestions or comments I'd love to hear them.
Skill Ranks per Level: 4+ Int modifier.
Bravery (Ex) Dauntless (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a fighter gains a +1 bonus all saves. This bonus increases by +1 for every three levels beyond 2nd.
Armor Training (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, a fighter learns to be more maneuverable while wearing armor. Whenever he is wearing armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0), gains a +1 dodge bonus, and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by his armor by 1. Every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, and 15th), these bonuses increase by +1 each time, to a maximum –4 reduction of the armor check penalty, +4 maximum dodge bonus to AC, and a +4 increase of the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed.
In addition, a fighter can also move at his normal speed while wearing medium armor. At 7th level, a fighter can move at his normal speed while wearing heavy armor.
Knack for Combat(Ex) Starting at 4th level, a Fighter can choose bonus Fighter feats even if he does not meet the stat requirements of that feat.
Deadly Charge (Ex) At 10th level, when a Fighter makes a charge, he may use a swift action to make a Full Attack, rather than a single attack. Attacks after the first attack do not receive any additional benefit such as plus to hit from the charge. A Fighter may use this ability a number of times equal to 3 + his CON modifier, plus an additional 1 time per day for every two Fighter levels past 10**.
* or "her" if you prefer. I'm not particular.
** This generally then goes two directions. Either the Fighter's a normal, deluded guy who just picked up a sword and is in for a short, nasty, and brutish experience, or he's actually got the chops to pull it off. I chose to believe the latter. If you believe the former, the current Fighter class probably feels okay to you.
*** Let's leave Rogue out of it for now.
**** I was hesitant about adding resources since it changes the feel of the Fighter class a little, but I thought there should be some sort of limit on this ability. I tied it to Constitution, because this relates back to the Fighter's stamina.
Dauntless: I won't argue that Bravery is waste of a class feature (though great in concept), but at 20th level, you've giving the equivalent of +13 to Fort and Will, and a +19 to Fort. Is giving a bonus more palatable than giving the fighter three good saving throws? Cause you've done better than that. Its a big power boost, but boring I think. With a great name like Dauntless, it needs some great flavor too.
Armor Training: so now the fighter is more agile when wearing armor than when not? Dodge bonuses are great, but this doesn't make sense.
Knack For Combat: I would put a scaling bonus in place, such as gaining +1 per X fighter levels to ability scores for the purpose of qualifying for feats. Also, I would like to point out that you have used the word "stat" where you should have used "ability score".
Deadly Charge: your wording is terrible. Perhaps "As a swift action, the fighter gains the Pounce abilty until the end of his turn." Then again, implementing a limited resource ability to the fighter just feels kind of icky.
It was thrown together quickly, my apologies for the roughness.
Dauntless: I won't argue that Bravery is waste of a class feature (though great in concept), but at 20th level, you've giving the equivalent of +13 to Fort and Will, and a +19 to Fort. Is giving a bonus more palatable than giving the fighter three good saving throws? Cause you've done better than that. Its a big power boost, but boring I think. With a great name like Dauntless, it needs some great flavor too.
I considered 3 good saves, and honestly thought it could do with a bit more. Right now, they're around +7 bonus to stats, which makes Reflex and Will saves "good," and Fortitude "great." It's still not at the level a Barbarian can get up to with Superstition, Human favored class bonus, and a Courageous / Furious weapon (+16 to all saves by my count). It's similar to a 20 Paladin's saves (if they didn't go crazy on Charisma), though still a lower Will save. That being said, there's no downside to this (compared with Superstition), and no stat investment (compared with Paladin). It may need to be tuned down or completely reworked.
Armor Training: so now the fighter is more agile when wearing armor than when not? Dodge bonuses are great, but this doesn't make sense.
None at all, and my only excuse again is that I was in a hurry when I put it together. Should just be an Dodge bonus that is on at all times, then I decided to lump it in with Armor Training and got sloppy.
Knack For Combat: I would put a scaling bonus in place, such as gaining +1 per X fighter levels to ability scores for the purpose of qualifying for feats. Also, I would like to point out that you have used the word "stat" where you should have used "ability score".
Again, apologies on quick writing for "stat". I had considered mimicking the Ranger ability to do a Combat Style, (which ignores not only Ability Scores, but also prerequisite feats, but for a more limited selection of feats), but (A) it's been done, and (B) I felt we could keep feat chains. The goal is to let a Fighter take a Sword/Shield 2H style or flesh out an Archery/2H switch hitter without needing your Dex through the roof, or use Combat Expertise without needing 13 INT. Also, to let you keep feats if you get ability drained.
Deadly Charge: your wording is terrible. Perhaps "As a swift action, the fighter gains the Pounce abilty until the end of his turn." Then again, implementing a limited resource ability to the fighter just feels kind of icky.
Yeah. This one in general is my least favorite, and worded poorly. Ah well, need to put together a v 2.0
Here are my Fighter class changes, inspired by Kirth's Kirthfinder Fighter (you need to request the rules from the thread). The goal of my remake was to offer more versatility, toughness, and customization without rigid feat builds, stat scores, or archetypes.
My other homebrews/house rules.