I have run a few (short) homebrew games, and in all of them I find fighters don't seem to fill the role of tactical commander very well. Limited skill points mean they cannot identify a wide array of foes via KNOW checks, thus they have little to contribute tactically besides their AC. Others figure out how to hurt the enemy, and the "living weapon" fighter lags behind in team contributions.
I may have a solution for this:
Fighters may add their fighter levels to any check to identify a targets; Weaknesses, DR, Resistances, Immunities, and supernatural abilities. Starting at lvl 6 A fighter may repeat one failed KNOW check against an opponent after receiving or dealing damage from that target, at lvl 11 he may repeat a second time, with no penalty to the check.
This represents the fighters experience in assessing opponents on the fly and determining what works and what doesn't. Fighters are supposed to represent skillful weapons masters who have spent their lives on the battlefield, working alone or part of a unit to bring down foes quickly. They should understand where an enemies vulnerabilities lie merely by the way they move in combat.
I was also thinking of maybe letting the fighters count identified opponents DR as 1/3 fighter levels lower (min 0) for all attacks that day vs that target.
So, good idea? Too much? Not enough? Is it stepping on the bards toes too much? I would like to get the advice of those with more experience and better math-fu than I.
Thank you.
Path of War introduced a Knowledge (martial) skill to handle that.
Studied Target kind of is the same idea. I study you to see what weaknesses you have that I might exploit.
Barroom Brawler is my solution for a "nice thing" for fighters. Doesn't help out of combat, but solves the "I'm locked into this Feat!" issue - especially around things any competent combatant should be able to do without a Feat.