Most animals have an Int of 2, though some that rely more on instinct than intellect seem to have a 1. I'm sure nobody would argue that a common iguana should be able to fight like a well trained, seasoned veteran fighter, even if it had the disposition to do so. Even a guard dog has a rather limited repetoire of attacks that it uses, if more than just "bite it till it's dead" those must be trained I think.
So, with that in mind, most of these animals have a 2 Int, how would a Fighter be affected by being reduced to a 1 Int?
Would they still be capable of using their fighter feats?
Could they still use a shield properly?
Would they understand how to use flanking against enemies?
Would they even be capable of effectively wielding a weapon?
It can be argued that even a caveman can use clubs and spears, but even a caveman has a higher Int than a Feebleminded Fighter.
I assume the text in Feeblemind that says someone is still capable of recognizing friends and protecting them is just there to prevent GM's from ruling that your Feebleminded friend automatically attacks the party or anything like that, not that it means a Fighter can disregard being Feebleminded. The spell description specifically mentions some skills and abilities, but if you can't even remember how to speak your native language, how can you remember all your martial training?
How would you adjudicate this?
Please explain your answers so I can learn why you think so.
If somebody targeted the fighter instead of the wizard, they deserve to get beat up by the now mentally challenged fighter.
I would rule that the fighter can't use INT accosiated feats like combat expertise and the like, but feats like power attack are totally fine. I'm not 100% sure on this one, but I'm pretty certain.
Shields are fine.
Flanking is fine. The flanking bonus is because the target is being distracted by opposite enemies.
They can absolutely 100% use a weapon.
Provided the lack of rules on the matter, I think some things are pretty obvious.
The target regresses to animal-like intelligence, and Animals can all use Power Attack and other feats that rely merely on their physical prowess, agility, and such. They also understand the benefit of flanking (as in packs of Wolves) and other basic tactics, including aiding another, bull-rushing and grappling (though they have no idea that it's better to grapple a Wizard than a Barbarian, but they might recognize that it's easier to grapple frail-looking guy, rather than muscle guy, if a choice must be made among a number of enemies).
As for everything that regards equipment, it gets murky because there's a conflict between loss of understanding/knowlege/logic and consolidated habit. A low intelligence doesn't understand that a blade is more powerful along the edge rather than its "flat" side, but at the same time the Fighter is used to swinging a sword in a certain manner and might retain the habit.
On the equipment aspect I would accept both views, but would learn towards the first: 1) the character un-learns how to use equipment and is considered non-proficient with it, all his equipment-related feats and abilities are "locked", he prefers to fight with his fists, tries to get off any kind of encumbering armor he's wearing, and at best uses any weapon as a club, swinging it much like a Gorilla would; 2) thanks to habit, he retains each and every ability.
Of course, mixes of the two are also possible, for example he may lose all abilities except something like Armor Training because wearing armor all day makes it such a huge habit that it comes to rely on "body memory", rather than an aware ability that needs constant thought.
I think there was the need of Int 3 to understand a language and to use a tool if im not mistaken.
So he would keep his feats... and would still attack his enemies not his allies.
But he wouldnt be able to use any tool (including his sword...) and wouldnt be able to understand any language at all.
He would loose the ability to use feats he no longer qualifies for, and any Int-based check would suffer. I think that is it. Anything else is up the to player's role playing.
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I think that most answers can be given if you think about it from realistic perspective. He is acting like a animal, so he might ignore defenses a bit more in favor of offense, granted that doesn't mean he stops using sword and board style. CampingCarl summed it up right. Feats like Combat Expertise might be used less often, while Power Attack might be used more often. A player should however keep in mind that this is very table-dependant behavior.
As a GM, I would allow character to use any simple tactics, ideas and talk (already mentioned above by other posters), but anything more complex like pulling out a potion from backpack, trying to track or remember something specific or even use more then a few word sentences would require DC 10 Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma check (feebleminded person should have around 25% success chance on these). At least, that seems best way to simulate the given situation.
Adam
Considering mindless skeletons can use weapons, I would allow a fighter to use one. They would remain effective with it due to muscle memory but wouldn't be able to use any intelligence based skills or feats.
The system doesn't think intelligence is required to effectively wield weapons, wear armor, recognize danger, know friend from foe, or even tell the living from the dead.
Stupid, in pathfinder, is just stupid. Not incompetent.
Feeblemind doesn't really do much to a fighter besides make them way easier to diplomacize and intimidate.
Does feeblemind debuff fighters? Yes. Is it crippling? Hardly.
As I said, if you decide to target the fighter with feeblemind than you deserve to get beat up by the drooling moron you have created.
The proficiency feats do not have an INT prereq. thus they are not affected when INT drops to 2.
The afflicted character might use more simplistic and direct tactics, but otherwise only stuff that has an INT prereq goes inactive. He might charge grapple monsters, instead of luring them somewhere advantageous.
Not only does a low intelligence not impede a fighter's ability to fight, there is nothing stopping the player continuing to play his character as acting intelligent.
*per all the int dumped fighters whose players ignore the stat while rollplaying.
Apply the penalties as written.
Unless the rules state you can't use tools, you can continue to use them.
Language, however, is out.
So are feats with an INT requirement.
Roleplaying this could be fun, grunting and punching trees and such, stealing food from the donkey pulling your cart...