Hey everyone. I am a self-acknowledged caster-lover (I like having options both in and out of combat). However, martial characters should get nice things too, IMO.
So in the spirit of an honest mental exercise I decided to build a fighter level 1-20. I decided on the Tactician archetype and began figuring out my ability scores (20 point buy). That's when I became frustrated...
I know I need a good Strength score, Dexterity is going to be essential to get use out of Armor Training, Constitution is always nice, Intelligence needs to be at 13 minimum for Combat Expertise and the improved Combat Maneuver feats, Wisdom needs to be at least decent to avoid getting Charmed/Dominated and turning on my party, and Charisma can be dumped... Yay MAD (Multiple Ability Dependancy)...
So things look like this: Str: 16, Dex: 14, Con: 11, Int: 13, Wis: 14, Cha: 7.
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All that said, how on earth am I going to actually be able to utilize Armor Training? Taking a Breastplate for example (+6 AC, +3 Max Dex, -4 Armor Check Penalty) and using Armor Training 2 (+2 Max Dex and -2 Penalty) and Masterwork Mithral Armor (+2 Max Dex, -3 Penalty) means I would need a +7 Dexterity Modifier (24 minimum Dexterity score). Starting with a 14 in Dexterity means I would need at least a +6 belt and +4 from some other (non-enhancement bonus) source to get full use out of the class feature.
I suppose I could plan on using inferior armor and spend the 10K for Mithral somewhere else. However, for AC to be meaningful in the higher levels you have to invest in it, and I am not convinced that I will get much out of it without at least the investment I have described...
Even if I dump scores like Intelligence and Wisdom (which I do not want to have to do) I would only be getting enough to bump Dexterity up to maybe 16 or so... which is better I guess, but still not impressing me with the class feature and the opportunity to utilize it.
If I understand things correctly, this becomes even harder for normal Fighters using heavy armor... How on earth is this a worthwhile thing?
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TLDR: Is there some way to get a high enough Dexterity score to utilize the Armor Training class feature of the Fighter class without gimping the stats on this (surprisingly) MAD class?
Not every feature of the fighter is meant to be 100% exploitable by the fighter. Armor training is great if you're in full plate and your dex is a non-negative value. Alternatively, you are playing a dex fighter with weapon finesse and will have a 20+ dex as soon as possible.
You may also want to take the wisdom hit and pick up Iron Will. You're a fighter, so gimping your ability to hit things with every single attack just to be able to get an extra few percentage points to avoid the rather rare mind control/dominate/charm abilities isn't necessarily the best option. Now, your GM may be the kind of guy who will saturate fighters with mind controlling monsters, but in that case the +10% a 14 wisdom has over a 10 wisdom doesn't buy you much either.
Book of (Insert relevant stat here). Done.