The physical training is strictly inferior and almost worthless. at any level he can use it, he's likely to have an equal or better bonus from gear.
If this was a permanent benefit, it would be worth it.
Combat Training: One open combat feat a day, AND he can give it away? Time for a 2nd level fighter hireling to give me any combat feat I want on demand.
Equipment Training: Again, should be a permanent bonus, and only require 'training' if you want to switch it to a different weapon.
==Aelryinth
First off, I do appreciate your comments. I'm getting that out of the way in case anything else I write seems defensive. :)
Providing bonuses that do not stack with common magic items was intentional, inspired in part by your idea that fighters should be able to thrive without magic (I'm paraphrasing). At certain levels, you are correct that the fighter will already have enhancement bonuses to one or more physical ability scores. In campaigns I have personally played in, enhancement bonuses to multiple ability scores is not common. I have only done it with a single character. This fighter could use training when equipment is lost, in areas of anti-magic, he can use it to instead help out an ally.
When I first rewrote this yesterday, it started as: choose Str, Dex, or Con. Gain +X to skills and ability score checks. This seemed kind of weak. There are no Con skills, and ability checks do not come up much (except initiiative and stabilizing). The current version just seemed to be helpful in general way.
Using a hireling to get a free feat is a loophole. I have never played in a 3rd ed or later campaign with hirelings, not have I used the Leadership feat, so I don't think about these things. Using a hireling that way is kind of cheesy though. I can inlcude something to prevent this loophole though, maybe that you can't get training from someone with a lower BAB that you.
As for the "permanent" equipment bonus, I could do that (naming the weapon was a cool idea), but I still wouldn't want all three of these training types floating around at once. My concept/intention here is that in the morning while the spellcasters are prepping their spells for the day, what it the student of war doing? He's keeping up on his skill of course. By spending an hour a day, he keeps those skills at peak performance.
Keeping his skills at peak condition presumes he is exercising...a permanent bonus because the caster isn't.
5E actually did what I did...melee combatants get more stat raises then casters, because they are totally dependent on physical stats. Casters just need the one, and bunches of spells.
Time casters spend mastering spells, melees spend upping their stats.
Your bonus starts at level 6 at +1. Sure, you can assign it to a tertiary stat. But at 10th level, where it hits +2, you should have a +4 belt in your main stat, and if not, you can afford +2 in all your physical stats easily.
By 14th, you should probably have +4 in all your stats, and your bonus there is merely +3.
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May I suggest an alternative?
1) Make the stat bonus dependent on the fighter having no magical ability (including pools and UMD).
2) Give the fighter a +1 bonus to his lowest physical and mental stat. Make it inherent, so it stacks at low level, but maxes out at +5.
3) Repeat at levels 4, 8, 12, 16, 20.
Because it's the LOWEST stat, there's no way to cheese it. All it will do is bring the fighter's stats up to average across the board. It won't make his best stat better.
It's a 'gold bonus'. It gives him a bonus to a stat he'd never pay for, the maximum result of which is going to be +2.
And it represents his continuous training and self-improvement. In this case, it's covering his weaknesses instead of breaking his strengths.
And by making it part of the fighter class and tied to no magic, the only class it would stack with...is NPC classes, or the Rogue.
You can't break it, and it's a cool little bonus.
The barbarian SHOULD be the master of physical stats at the high end. That's what rage is all about. But the fighter should be considerably more well-rounded.
You could do the same with the Rogue and it won't hurt anything, either.
==Aelryinth
Another suggestion is have his class bonuses enhance stat raisers that he's already wearing, giving him a bonus he doesn't have to pay for.
I had Fighter's armor training increase his enhancement bonuses while in magic armor by +2, to a maximum of +6. At level 19, the capstone increased the cap to +8...yay, fighters can equal the results of a sorcerer bloodline!
==Aelryinth
Just want to point out that the bonus is +1 at level 2 and +1 every four levels thereafter...
Do you have a finished fighter rewrite floating around somewhere? Your ideas are all pretty cool, but I kow you're working on a fighter and I don't really want to copy them.
Meh, copy away.
I have a fighter rewrite done, but not posted. a Lot of the fighter rebalance is in what you do with the feats thereafter. You can only cover so much ground with the class.
And the bonus will still be low, and breaks versimillitude with the rest of the system that grants +2 Stat bonuses all the time. You get your +6 bonus at level Never, and a +5 at 18. From a cash standpoint, that's a 25k cash bonus to get you a lesser bonus then what you should have by level.
Armor Bond/Exoskeleton: At level 6, your link with your armor exceeds mere protection. The enhancement bonus of any Strength boosting item you wear increases by +2 while you are in armor, to a maximum of +6.
At level 10, this applies to Constitution.
At level 14, it applies to Dexterity.
At level 18, the bonus increases +4, and the maximum is +8.
All it does is save the fighter some money...and mean he doesn't have to take the Orc bloodline or something to get the best Str boost in the game.
i.e. he uses gear better then other classes do...and not just armor and weapons.
==Aelryinth
Instead of +2 to one score, then another, then another, why not +1 to all three? You could rework the rate at which the bonus improves to achieve the same end result. As written, a Dex build has seriously delayed gratification.
Unless the bonus equals or exceeds the enhancement bonus from Gear the fighter should have at the given level, it's effectively worthless and useless.
And seeing as how it tops out at +5, that's also a serious problem. The only way around it is to make it a permanent bonus, and then a stacking type. Strangely enough, making an Inherent bonus hits all the right buttons: it stacks, it subs for gold benefit, it's permanent, and it goes up to exactly +5, and even at the right level.
==Aelryinth
Not useless. Not every character will have every 'required' ability score boosting item. There are anti-magic zones, dispel abilities, lack of funds, theft, and maybe the character wants to wear a different belt.
Ciaran, I'm not trying to be harsh on you, just pointing out the facts.
1) The fighter will eventually get all ability score mods physically. It's just a given.
2) Anti-magic is extremely rare. And nobody dispels enhancement gear.
3) Lack of funds would subsume playing a low magic game, which is outside the realm of argument here.
4) Wearing a different belt is certainly a possibility. By level 6, any character will have the belt for their prime score at least +2, and it will probably be +4 around 10th.
Meanwhile, this bonus is +2 at 6th and +4 at 14th. The net effect of the ability is going to be MAYBE +2 to one ability score.
At level 17+, the fighter will have at least +4 in all ability scores, likely +6, and this bonus topping out at +5 will basically do nothing.
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I don't disagree with the Principle of what you are doing, I just think the mechanics are wrong.
1) You're violating the +2 principle for raising stats. This is rigorously adhered to just about everywhere.
2) The net benefit tops at +2, and then goes DOWN. At high levels, it effectively doesn't exist.
You should rewrite the ability as applying a +2 bonus.
You should have the ability stack with other enhancement bonuses up to a max of +6 (+8 at 18th), so that the ability gets MORE useful, over time, not less, and has a capstone.
Otherwise, you should simply make it a permanent Inherent bonus and be done with it.
As I noted above, I did BOTH of those things. Armor bond increases stat magical items, and self-training gave inherent bonuses. The enhancement increase was just basically a small accelerant and a continuation of the trope that fighters use gear better then the other classes. The inherent bonuses were always to the LOWEST ability score...stats the fighter would never spend money on, anyways. As such, they shored up his bad stats back to average, but didn't break any super high level stats.
Under my system, a fighter never needed to buy more then a +4 toy...it saved him money, and let him use that money for all the stats, instead of focusing on that +6 as fast as possible.
At level 18, he could look forwards to another capstone effect...+8 enhancement bonuses! Take THAT sorcerer/ orc or demon bloodline!
==Aelryinth