Fast Learner doesn't give you the alternate FCB option, but OK.
Why a fighter? Why not, oh, a wizard for spells which can give further bonuses? Heightened awareness, spider climb, etc etc. Spells as a fighting style don't necessarily need feats to be good either. Or an arcanist for a caster with lots of pseudo-feats.
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& if you want to play a fighter anyway, the feat-low way is a greatsword or similar. Power Attack, Furious Focus, Weapon Focus, Lunge gives you pretty solid damage easily enough.
VMC Bard gives you bardic knowledge! Plus Inspire Compentence...
Does it have to be a Fighter? A Ranger or Slayer gets enough bonus feats (and other class features) for being viable with a weapon AND more skill points to spread.
This feat is also pretty awesome
I recommend ranger if you're interested in skills. You will still have plenty of untrained skills to use your +6 on.
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Yeah...I'd go Slayer with this. You get more skills and almost as many Feats, and Studied Target gives a flat bonus on a variety of skills that would stack with the listed stuff.
Additionally, I'd drop Cha to 8, buy Int and Con to 14, and grab Student of Philosophy.
That drops your Intimidate, Perform, and Handle Animal by -2, but ups your skill points per level, and actually makes you better (to the tune of +8 rather than +7) at most uses of Bluff and Diplomacy. And it gives you skill points and hit points every level. Which is really nice.
In terms of weapon, just go with a giant two-handed weapon. The only Feat you need to be awesome with that is Power Attack. A few others are handy (and buyable) but not necessary in the least.
So...that version would have the following stats at 5th:
Str 17
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 12
Cha 8
Feats: Fast Learner, Improvisation, Improved Improvisation, Power Attack, Weapon Focus,
Skills: Acrobatics +10, Bluff +10 (+7 to feint), Intimidate +7, Knowledge (Dungeonering) +10, Knowledge (Local) +10, Perception +9, Sense Motive +9, Stealth +10, Survival +9 (+11 for Tracking), and maxed ranks in one other skill (maybe Linguistics for extra languages...or a skill added to your list with a Trait...UMD is a great choice, low Cha or not).
And can gain a +2 on Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks vs. Studied Targets. This will also apply to Disguise, Intimidate, and Stealth starting at 7th level.
That's just a much better build in most ways than the Fighter version IMO.
The Fighter version can eventually catch up in number of skills via Advanced Weapon Training, but they never get the Studied Target bonus on said skills.
If you get lots of skill points the value of Improvisation and Improved Improvisation decreases because they only benefit when you have no ranks in a skill.
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Yeah...I'd go Slayer with this. You get more skills and almost as many Feats, and Studied Target gives a flat bonus on a variety of skills that would stack with the listed stuff.
Additionally, I'd drop Cha to 8, buy Int and Con to 14, and grab Student of Philosophy.
That drops your Intimidate, Perform, and Handle Animal by -2, but ups your skill points per level, and actually makes you better (to the tune of +8 rather than +7) at most uses of Bluff and Diplomacy. And it gives you skill points and hit points every level. Which is really nice.
In terms of weapon, just go with a giant two-handed weapon. The only Feat you need to be awesome with that is Power Attack. A few others are handy (and buyable) but not necessary in the least.
So...that version would have the following stats at 5th:
Str 17
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 12
Cha 8Feats: Fast Learner, Improvisation, Improved Improvisation, Power Attack, Weapon Focus,
Skills: Acrobatics +10, Bluff +10 (+7 to feint), Intimidate +7, Knowledge (Dungeonering) +10, Knowledge (Local) +10, Perception +9, Sense Motive +9, Stealth +10, Survival +9 (+11 for Tracking), and maxed ranks in one other skill (maybe Linguistics for extra languages...or a skill added to your list with a Trait...UMD is a great choice, low Cha or not).
And can gain a +2 on Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks vs. Studied Targets. This will also apply to Disguise, Intimidate, and Stealth starting at 7th level.
That's just a much better build in most ways than the Fighter version IMO.
The Fighter version can eventually catch up in number of skills via Advanced Weapon Training, but they never get the Studied Target bonus on said skills.
That is my "generic hero" fighter build for the most part.
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If you get lots of skill points the value of Improvisation and Improved Improvisation decreases because they only benefit when you have no ranks in a skill.
Sure. But if you wind up better anyway (even with the lower value), it's still a net win.
And there are 35 skills. Having ranks in 10 of them rather than 4 reduces the number of skills that benefit from the Improvisation stuff from 31 to 25. That's...not as huge a decrease as all that.
That is my "generic hero" fighter build for the most part.
It's a pretty solid one.
One other thing - no mention of traits, but Worldly and Possessed are each worth looking at if you're going to focus on untrained skills.
surprisingly, thinking about it, a fighter could probably end up with about 8 skills points per level before getting into int and such.
Mostly, this comes from taking that one advanced weapon training ability multiple times. You might have to take an extra weapon group to open up more options for it though.
Not saying this is a good build. Just a possible one. I would usually expect like... 4+ with AWT. Grab the will save boot, maybe grab a nice trick ability from AWT (such as warpriest damage dice on a crit fishing kukri build or a outslug style cestus build), and you would generally be fine.
Slayer is likely better for social skills since studied target is just a free +5 on those skills in social situations, and they are generally easier to build. Really, you have to kind of intentionally work to get a bad slayer (since you could just say '2 handed and power attack' and be done with it). But fighters can still be decent enough- might need more system mastery to get something 'interesting' though.
Take the Lore Warden archetype.
Two additional skill points and all intelligence skills as class skills.
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Evangelist gives +4 sacred or profane to skills without ranks.
Half-elf (+2), Improvisation (+2), Improved Improvisation (+2), Evangelist (+4) is +10 to all skills before anything besides ranks.
Excellent point. Given the Feat requirements and prerequisites, it only kicks in at 12th (you get Deific Obedience at 7th, and only get that after 5 levels of the PRC), but that's still worth it if that's your goal, though it does leave you somewhat behind in combat prowess.
yeah, but that's 5 levels into that class, which is 5 levels of another class first, so it's a +4 at lv10.
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Evangelist advances your base class too. You're losing 2 BAB, 5 HP, 2 fort, and 1 level of class abilities. As a fighter (or anyone), you qualify at level 5.
Yes, I know.
However, the Feat progression on this build looks like this:
1st: Fast Learner
3rd: Improvisation
5th: Improved Improvisation
What part of that qualifies him for Evangelist?
And it's pretty set in stone for the concept to work. So...at 7th, they can pick up Deific Obedience and head into evangelist from there, but not before. They can theoretically start retraining a couple of levels from there (if retraining is allowed), I suppose, but it remains an issue.
EDIT: Ninja'd. I guess we're just dealing with a difference in priorities here.
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So I was thinking of making a half-elf who can use any skill.
To be really helpful to your party, invest your traits in adopted and helpful (halfling) to give them a +4 bonus when you use aid another on all those skill checks!
Then use a reach weapon (or whip, if you can get the proficiency without wasting a feat on it) to give them +4 to their attacks or AC whenever you're not in a position to do anything more useful (like when you're stuck in a tight corridor or tiny room).
If it is for PFS you know the majority of your opponents are going to be human.
A Lore Warden specialized in trip: you already get Combat Expertise as a free feat and get substantial bonuses to your CMB/CMD. It comes online at 2nd level.
Str- 14 (+2 racial bonus) = 16
Dex- 14
Con- 13
Int- 13
Wis- 12
Cha- 12
1. Fast learner
1. Weapon Focus
1. Power Attack
2. Combat Expertise
2. Improved Trip
3. Improvisation
4. Weapon Specialization
5. Improved Improvisation
6. Combat Reflexes
7. Vicious Stomp
8. Iron Will
9. Fury's Fall
Watch out for untrained limits. For example:
Training You cannot make an untrained Knowledge check with a DC higher than 10.
So even with a +20 untrained, you still cannot make a DC 11 knowledge check.
/cevah
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Watch out for untrained limits. For example:
Training You cannot make an untrained Knowledge check with a DC higher than 10.So even with a +20 untrained, you still cannot make a DC 11 knowledge check.
/cevah
Luckily for the OP...
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all skill checks for skills you have no ranks in. Furthermore, you can use all skills designated “trained only” untrained.
Watch out for untrained limits. For example:
Training You cannot make an untrained Knowledge check with a DC higher than 10.So even with a +20 untrained, you still cannot make a DC 11 knowledge check.
/cevah
Luckily for the OP...
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all skill checks for skills you have no ranks in. Furthermore, you can use all skills designated “trained only” untrained.
Knowledge(X) is not trained only.
Unluckily for the OP, The skill itself limits the DC of untrained use. Just like UMD cannot Take-10 even if you get a feature that lets you Take-10 in times you normally would not be allowed to.
So: it works like this:
Q: Do you have ranks invested?
A-Yes: Use ranks for any DC.
A-No: Max DC you can succeed at is DC 10.
Your effective skill roll can be higher as I posited above, but the max DC is not affected by Improvisation.
/cevah
So: it works like this:
Q: Do you have ranks invested?
A-Yes: Use ranks for any DC.
A-No: Max DC you can succeed at is DC 10.Your effective skill roll can be higher as I posited above, but the max DC is not affected by Improvisation.
/cevah
That's a real bummer I was just about to suggest deific obedience Irori...