So a friend of mine got me playing pathfinder last year and after 2 months our new DM got to busy to continue. So a month or so back her fiance started up a new campaign. We were told to start at lvl 4, and I was roped into being a tank/front line fighter so I put a reach build together.
25 point buy (+2 stat points every 4 lvls house rule "Different stats")
So ended up with this
Human Fighter lvl 4 standard archetype
Str 20
Dex 16
Con 14
Wis 14
Int 9
Cha 7
Feats:Power Attack, Furious Focus, Endurance, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative.
Main weapon: Masterwork Bardiche
Other Masterwork Heavy Flail, Composite +5 Longbow, Bill, Longsword (2), Daggers (6), Fiery +2 Bearded Axe (new drop)
Gear: Masterwork Agile Breast Plate, Ring of Protection +1, Amulet of natural armor (drop trade)
Also have a light horse (per our dm am allowed to ride into combat with) may get pick up a lance and a war trained horse though
We are a group of 6-8 adventures normally consisting of me and
"Cleric/Bard" Half Elf - support
"Swashbuckler" Elf Female - rushes in without thinking - has been below 0 hp twice (disguised: Pretends to be Human Male)
"Wizard" cast from afar
"Alchemist/Barbarian" uses bombs for range and fights when they get close
"Ranger/Rogue" Goblin with natural weapons sneak attack & bite (disguised: Pretends to be a gnome)
and on occasion
"Summoner" Last session was first session
"Cleric" - support - found out it was a bad idea to run up to the front lines when a troll one shot her with an Attack of Opportunity
Was trying to plan out the rest of my feats a bit did not think of the 13 int req for Combat Expertise so combat maneuvers are a bit harder to pull off, unless I dip a level into brawler. So with that in mind I focused on a reach/crit build.
So for the next few lvls I was thinking.
5:Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Fauchard)
5:Weapon Training (Polearms)
6:Weapon Focus (Fauchard)
7:Vital strike
8:Improved Critical (Fauchard) replace if get Keen weapon
9:Greater Weapon Focus (Fauchard)
9:Weapon Training (Bows)
10:Critical Focus
11:Critical Versatility
12:Surge of Success
13:Bleeding/Staggering/Sickening Critical (for next lvl to have something to stack with Critical Mastery using Critical Versatility)
13:Weapon Training (Flails, Hammers, Axes or Heavy Blades)
14:Critical Mastery
15:Weapon Specialization (Fauchard)
16:
17:
13:Weapon Training (Flails, Hammers, Axes or Heavy Blades)
18:
19:
20:
20:Weapon Mastery (Fauchard)
Not sure if Weapon Focus is necessary or Vital strike will be useful, or if im going down the crit path a bit early.
Other feats I was considering are; Cleave/Cleaving Finish, Bodyguard, Outflank (if i convince others to get), Step up/Following step/Step up and strike, Quick Draw, Iron Will, Diehard.
I'm trying to be that front line guy that you have to get through to deal with the rest of the group, so far it works most of the time as long as no one charges in. I have been able to take out 2-4 lesser mobs on there approach and have received little damage taking this approach, and protected those behind/next to me at the same time.
Not sure where to put these in or leave them out all together. Does anyone have any thoughts on this build or something I may be overlooking?
Skip vital strike, if you want to take improved trip line, use dirty fighting to qualify. Wear armor spikes. Id find someplace to put iron will and improved iron will.
If you want to protect people, you will probably want combat reflexes, but it's hard to use if people in the party like to charge in. You might also want phalanx formation to ignore soft cover for reach weapons,
Diehard actually is more likely to get you killed.
Stuff below requires combat reflexes:
When dealing with a caster, you move right next to him, so he is threatened by your armor spikes. If he 5 ft back, he's still threatened by your fauchard. If he full withdraws, you trip him as he is moving out of your fauchard range. You have combat reflexes, so you can take an AOO should he decide to not cast defemsively as he is still in your fauchard reach.
You need the Advanced Weapon Training and Advanced Armor training feats. Armed Bravery, the one that lets you use magical effects off your gear, and the one that lets you use magical effects based on the metal of your armor.
Ask your DM if he will let your fighter use the stamina pool and rules.
Combat Reflexes and Stand Still are fun.
Pushing Assault and Lunge are fun too.
You might want to get spiked gauntlets or armor spikes for when foes get inside your reach weapon's threatened area.
Improved Initiative and Reactionary (from Additional Traits) can help you go first so you can protect your more foolhardy allies by getting in their way. :-P
Skip vital strike, if you want to take improved trip line, use dirty fighting to qualify. Wear armor spikes. Id find someplace to put iron will and improved iron will.
If you want to protect people, you will probably want combat reflexes, but it's hard to use if people in the party like to charge in. You might also want phalanx formation to ignore soft cover for reach weapons,
Diehard actually is more likely to get you killed.
Stuff below requires combat reflexes:
When dealing with a caster, you move right next to him, so he is threatened by your armor spikes. If he 5 ft back, he's still threatened by your fauchard. If he full withdraws, you trip him as he is moving out of your fauchard range. You have combat reflexes, so you can take an AOO should he decide to not cast defemsively as he is still in your fauchard reach.
Thanks did not see Dirty Fighting, that defiantly opens up the door to some other possibility to play around with.
Yeah, Diehard can get you killed if your not smart about it. It only works well if you use it so that you can heal backup or finish off the enemy before they get a chance to tack you again. If I was going to take it It would be latter in the line anyhow as there are other better things to get atm.
Did not know that adding armor spikes would also let me threaten 5/10 feet at the same time thats one of the things I have been looking at over coming, and part of the reason I kept the longsword's and was looking at taking quick draw. If we were not 6 games in I would see if there was a way to switch to the Polearm Master Archetype, hell I could still see if it was an option, but then I lose Armor Training but gain Steadfast Pike which would be nice for the AOO bonus.
Still I was hopping to use Mithral Full Plate which would still take advantage of all of my dex at this point. But there would be no point in putting another point into dex or getting a belt of physical perfection as I was intending to do so because of the extra -3 acp +3 dex bonus I could have at lvl 8 with a Sash of the War Champion.
Would a Sash of the War Champion also then raise Pole Fighting and Steadfast Pike, because those are the skills they replace?
If so I have 2 weeks where I wont be able to attend my weekly session. I could always ask to see If I could spend those 2 weeks learning to become a Polearm Master.
You need the Advanced Weapon Training and Advanced Armor training feats. Armed Bravery, the one that lets you use magical effects off your gear, and the one that lets you use magical effects based on the metal of your armor.
Ask your DM if he will let your fighter use the stamina pool and rules.
Not sure how i could convince him to let me use the stamina pool rules at this point. Then again IE 2 weeks off I could come up with something.
Not sure what was wrong with me never read the part about Advanced Weapon Training. There are a lot of nifty stuff down there. Focused Weapon would be nice to take at lvl 17 if we get that far for 2d6. Then earlier there is always Armed Bravery to help out with will saves win there.
Would Combat Competence be able to replace Exotic Weapon Proficiency? so that by lvl 9 I could get my self the Fauchard only take a -2 and then get a +2 because its a polearm making it a net -4 at that point then at lvl 17 im just proficient with all polarms.
Weapon Specialist would be better then using up 4 feats and it would apply to all my polearms.
Trained Initiative would take care of quick draw and also put me higher up on the Initiative list another win.
So much to think about now. It definitely adds some options.
Try to convince him to allow stamina, it was intended as a stealth fix for warriors (fighters in particular) and it helps you do a lot of things.
As for the weapon training options, hmm, Weapon specialist is nice if you intend to use several weapons from the same group, which tbh is not bad for polearms as there are polearms for different reach and damage types. I am not a great fan, though. Focused weapon is actually not so good imo. By the time it outpaces the normal damage for a two-handed weapon, you are so far into the campaign the extra 1-2 damage on average is pointless.
Alternatively, check out the talent that lets you use your BAB as your ranks for several skills. Fighters are quite poor in skill points, and now and then it helps to have something to do while you are not bashing heads. With polearms, you select among 4 pretty decent skills (bluff, intimidate, diplomacy, sense motive), so it isn't bad at all.
Personally, I am not a great fan of using an exotic weapon unless I am going for a theme or playing a half-elf (so I get it for free), but if you have to, do it. However, I find greater weapon focus to be sorely lacking for a feat at the level you get it. Consider getting Iron Will instead of it or even at level 5 (delaying weapon focus): as a warrior you do NOT want someone to get in your head and tell you what a great idea it is to kill your partners. Yes, even with armed bravery iron will can still be worthwhile.
Iron Will, IMproved Iron Will (Bravery to Mind affecting from Complete Intriuge) and Armed Bravery are ALL great feats for a fighter to take.
Getting bonuses in all polearms is meh. You are generally only ever going to use ONE of them. What you want to be is a switch hitter - shoot the bastards, and if they come close, trip and kill them.
Note that if you get the Unhindered Shield from Advanced Armor Training, you can get Buckler AC while using a polearm.
Focused Weapon is a fix for guys using things like UA and daggers and shortswords, letting them do Big Guy damage at high levels. It's effectively a back-end access to a monk's IUS damage tables for weapons.
There aren't actually that many good AWT feats for a 2h weapon user...the best ones were added for thrown weapons and 2 weapon fighters.
There are two more excellent feats from the Armor book. One lets you use the intrinsic magic of the stuff you wear for quick spells. Like, the str belt you wear lets you cast fly 1/day, and such. If you get a bunch of cheap magical gear, you can get some much needed extra versatility.
The other is the feat that allows you to draw on the metal of your armor for special effects. Being able to make your sword flaming at the start of every combat, for instance. Another great feat you should get.
Your build concept seems a little unfocused, or at least I don't see the focus: Combat Reflexes with no really good trigger, a powerful bow with no archery feats, Power Attack, but not Great Cleave. I've observed a few things.
You seem to like Pole Arms.
You are the only fighter in the group.
Holy Crap, you have a +5 Bow.
If you emphasize your bow, though, say by taking 2 levels in Ranger, taking Precise Shot as your Combat Style Feat, and allowing you to use Magic Wands with Ranger Spells, such as Gravity Bow (assuming magic items are things you can buy in your campaign). Then what, taking Rapid Shot, Manyshot, and Far Shot, maybe Shot on the Run, since you already have Dodge? Another intersting way to go might be Alchemist with the Grenedier Archetype: exploding arrows are cool.
Sorry about the tangent, if you focus on the archery, your party may not have very much in the way of melee capability. And that might mean you are dictating that the party strategy should be to hang back from melee and feather your enemies with arrows and ravage them with eldritch forces. But you have a Player who really likes to mix things up in melee, so you should probably develop as a melee fighter.
Will your GM let you take a Fighter Archetype, either by retraining or just sort of letting you? I think the Phalanx Soldier Archetype might be a good fit for you. At around level 3, you can use a Shield in one hand and a Pole Arm in the other. I'm really fond of the Klar, the Horsechopper, and the Lucerne Hammer. The Lucerne Hammer does Piercing or Blunt Damage, the Klar and the Horsechopper do Slashing. The Horsechopper and the Lucerne Hammer are Reach Weapons. The Lucerne Hammer is also a Brace Weapon and does 1d12 instead of 1d10. The Horsechopper is also a Trip Weapon. Someone mentioned the Phalanx Formation Feat. That seems like a good idea. I also recommend Quick Draw, so you can swiftly switch between your different weapons--Ranged, Melee, Reach, Piercing, Slashing, Bludgeoning, Brace, or Trip--the right tool for the job.
You have Power Attack and Furious Focus. I recommend Great Cleave. You can hit everyone 5' away from you with the Klar and also 10' away from you with the 'Hammer.
I really like Shield Slam. With Shield Slam, every Shield Bash lets you make a free Bull Rush. Take Greater Bull Rush, whenever you Bull Rush someone out of a Threatened Square, all your Allies get an Attack of Opportunity. Take Paired Opportunist via 3 level in or maybe 1 in Cavalier. With Paired Opporutnist, whenever any of you gets an Attack of Opportunity, you all do, so you get AoOs, too. Your AoO might be another Shield Slam, with another Bull Rush, with another Round of AoOs. Hope all your buddies all have Combat Reflexes.
With 5 levels in Phalanx Soldier Fighter, you gain an ability called ReadyPike, which lets you set your Pike to receive a charge as an Immediate Action. One thing I've always wanted to do is to have my Reach, Brace Weapon handy, finesse the enemy into charging, then bristle out with it and skewer them for double damage. Say linger just out of range for the enemies to get to you with normal movement, shooting them with your +5 Bow, making it so they have to charge to reach you, then when you do, use Ready Pike as an Immediate Action, hit them for double damage when they get to you, then if they survive and press on in, hit them again as they move inside your Reach as an Attack of Opportunity, again for Double Damage! When your turn rolls around, Shield Slam them away from you to be tenderized by your Hammer, sending them out again as they try to close back in.
I think it's a composite long bow made for Str 20 (+5).
Thats correct just to take advantage of the str. Still new here but I assumed that +5 str Composite Longbow would be written as Composite +5 Longbow and that a +5 weapon would be written as +5 Composite Longbow.
The main goal is to maintain battle field control with reach and ether trip, disarm, or maybe bull rush. Then take advantage of the AOO that are gained from reach and now combat maneuvers. If this is a bad way at attempting to do so please let me know. Also the biggest complaint I have read about combat maneuvers is that they are not very affective at latter levels, so maybe it would make more sense to forgo them all together for something like the step up and strike chain or the Improved Cleaving Finish chain/Greater Cleave.
As stated would like to incorporate some of these feats just not sure the best place to do so but if that means replacing something on the list below so be it.
Cleave/Cleaving Finish/Improved Cleaving Finish, Bodyguard, Outflank (if i convince others to get), Step up/Following step/Step up and strike, Quick Draw.
So unless I can do a stamina build this is what I have come up with so far, and then Combat Stamina would replace Dirty Fighting. Also I don't quite get how the stamina system works and neater does my DM, so if I cant explain how it works I am kinda sol.
Things I don't get are when you gain stamina, how much do you gain, max stamina.
For example I am lvl 4 with +4 bab and 2 point of con. If i already had the Combat Stamina feat. I would get a stamina pool when I attack. Do I get 1 point added to a max of 7? Do I gain 7 to use with each attack? What about multiple attacks a turn ie +6 bab, dual weapons, or when taking AOO?
The main interest I had in Polearm Master was so that I could use a reach weapon to threaten and attack at 5/10 feet thanks to Pole Fighting Skill. Unfortunately I have not found anything that comes close to that kin of flexibility. Quick Draw and/or Gauntlets of the Weaponmaster are the two thing i was planing on using to eliminate that problem one cost a feat an the other cost a lot of coin.
Armor spikes fixes the threaten at 5 ft issue. You just knee/elbow/headbutt the monster using your spiked armor if he's next to you. You threaten at both 5 and 10 ft, Been there, done that.
Change Lv 9 feat to iron will. Get phalanx formation if the swashbuckler wants to stand in front of you.
Not sure if you want to use a fauchard, because if you can use a dragoncatch guisarme, you can trip flying creatures(usually the bane of trippers). Also change lv 12 feat to dazing assault. Those taking your AOO have to make a fort save or get dazed(granted, DC isn't that great, but its better than nothing).
I never played with stamina rules, sorry, I can't help.
Pushing Assault might work well with the fauchard, since it moves foes 10 feet back on a crit. And fauchards crit on 18-20 or 15-20 if keen/improved critical.
The problem with pushing assault is its size dependent and the opponent does not provoke twice for movement.
Lv 13 feat to staggering critical. Stunning critical is nice but only available at lv 17(most games don't get there). Its nice since even on a successful save, the poor sop is still stagggered for 1 round. Try to fit in wep focus and greater for more to hit/better trip(esp when you're combining with dazing assault).
If space allows, ask the wizard to use permanency and enlarge person on you, so you have 20 ft reach.
Cleave line is a waste of feats since things have more hp then you can 1-shot, so you won't fulfil the requirements to use cleave.
Step-up - your reach already makes this feat redundant. I told you what to do with regards to spellcasters.
The problem with pushing assault is its size dependent and the opponent does not provoke twice for movement.
Lv 13 feat to staggering critical. Stunning critical is nice but only available at lv 17(most games don't get there). Its nice since even on a successful save, the poor sop is still stagggered for 1 round. Try to fit in wep focus and greater for more to hit/better trip(esp when you're combining with dazing assault).
If space allows, ask the wizard to use permanency and enlarge person on you, so you have 20 ft reach.
Cleave line is a waste of feats since things have more hp then you can 1-shot, so you won't fulfil the requirements to use cleave.
Step-up - your reach already makes this feat redundant. I told you what to do with regards to spellcasters.
Funny thing. Some people argue that when you Bull Rush via Shield Slam, you don't get any +2 or +4 bonuses for Improved or Greater bull rush because that Bull Rush uses the Shield Bash Attack Roll, not a 2nd Combat Maneuver Check. But it seems to me that if Shield Slamming is not technically Bull Rushing, then technically, there should be no size limit on Bull Rushing via Shield Slam or Bull Rush Strike, also not on Tripping Strike.
Meanwhile, a less debatable way to get your Bull Rush on any size creature is via the Harder they Fall Feat. It's a Teamwork Feat, and it requires your Ally uses Aid Another, but 2 Halflings can use it to Bull Rush an Elephant. Or an Eldritch Guardian Halfling and his Mauler Dinosaur Familiar that he rides on.
I never played with stamina rules, sorry, I can't help.
Yea I'm not sure if many people know how the stamina system works lol.
Just a Mort wrote:
Armor spikes fixes the threaten at 5 ft issue.
Will need to get some added at the next town right now I just have a extra 1H weapons to use.
How do attacks/damage work with them is it considered an unarmed attack, normally the best bet would still be to change to a polearm without reach or take a 5 foot step my self if they some how got that close correct?
Also polearms are normally P/S damage so my dm recommended a flail. Wouldn't Penetrating Strike and Greater or weapon enhancements take care of that anyhow.
Just a Mort wrote:
Change Lv 9 feat to iron will. Get phalanx formation if the swashbuckler wants to stand in front of you.
I think I have a plan to get it a bit sooner, in a new layout.
Just a Mort wrote:
Not sure if you want to use a fauchard, because if you can use a dragoncatch guisarme, you can trip flying creatures(usually the bane of trippers). Also change lv 12 feat to dazing assault. Those taking your AOO have to make a fort save or get dazed(granted, DC isn't that great, but its better than nothing).
Fauchard is going to be my go to weapon for the most part, but my DM already made a comment about me and my polearms so im going to have a few with me at all times.
"You should work on fill out that Golf club bag of polearms"
Just a Mort wrote:
The problem with pushing assault is its size dependent and the opponent does not provoke twice for movement.
Lv 13 feat to staggering critical. Stunning critical is nice but only available at lv 17(most games don't get there). Its nice since even on a successful save, the poor sop is still stagggered for 1 round. Try to fit in wep focus and greater for more to hit/better trip(esp when you're combining with dazing assault).
Critical Versatility is to help me gauge what works and was thinking about taking something at lvl 13 or 15.
As far as wep focus and greater I was thinking of taking Weapon Specialist at lvl 8 which by my understanding would get me both of those and then Weapon Specialization and Greater latter on for all my pole arms.
Just a Mort wrote:
If space allows, ask the wizard to use permanency and enlarge person on you, so you have 20 ft reach.
Already done.
Just a Mort wrote:
Cleave line is a waste of feats since things have more hp then you can 1-shot, so you won't fulfil the requirements to use cleave.
I get what your saying. Only problem is so far one shooting things has been my MO, so it was hard not to look at it.
Just a Mort wrote:
Skip vital strike, if you want to take improved trip line, use dirty fighting to qualify.
So is vital strike not the whole line but that feat alone not worth it for when I can't take a full round, and its a mob that I just can't trip, or do I have other tools at my disposal I have yet to think of?
New questions/Ideas
Wanted to make sure of something here as far as triggering would happen for tripping strike with greater trip.
I attack and get a crit I could trigger tripping strike if that was a success then I would get an AoO correct?
Now hypothetically if I also had improved disarm/disarming strike
If that AoO was also a crit could I then trigger disarming strike?
So yea if I keep with a trip build after a bit of looking around I found Fury's Fall which at this point is a +3 to trip which I was planing to increase as I leveled, as well as with a belt of physical perfection.
Going to ask my DM if at lvl 5 I can retrain a fighter feat as it would have been something I could do at lvl 4 but we started at lvl 4.
1:Power Attack
1:Furious Focus
H:Combat Reflexes
2:Dodge
3:Endurance
4:Improved Initiative
---------------
5:Improved Trip Retrain:(Dodge > Dirty Fighting)
5:--Weapon Training (Polearms)
6:Fury's Fall
7:Iron Will
8:Exotice Wepon Proficency (Fauchard) Retrain:(Improved Initiative > Greater Trip)
9:Tripping Strike "Keen Fauchard"
9:Weapon Training (Weapon Specialist)
10:Critical Focus
11:Critical Versatility
12:Improved Iron Will
13:Surge of Success
--13:Weapon Training (Armed Bravery)
14:Critical Mastery
15:"A Critical feat"
16:Improved Iron Will
17:
--17:Weapon Training (Defensive Weapon Training)
18:
19:
20:
20:Weapon Mastery (Fauchard)
Still have these to toss in;
Quick Draw: at lvl 7 instead of iron will but so far have not needed Quick Draw.
Outflank: but will get the same bonus with Dirty Fighting just not sure they would stack.
Phalanx Formation: but so far there has not been anything standing long enough that it was a req, plus shes normally off some where else most of the time.
The other option is if I drop the notion of trip I could keep dodge, then pick up Mobility and Combat Patrol and setup Patrol in front of my party to catch those coming in, just cant stop them unless I could kill them with that hit, which like trip will just get harder latter on same with cleave, but Lunge (extra 5ft) with cleave line could also be fun just a mater of when it stops being helpfull.
Polarms with Reach
Hammer, lucerne:B/P Brace/(+2 sunder M/H armor) 1d12(20)×2
Bec de Corbin:B/P Brace/(+2 sunder M/H armor) 1d10(20)×3
Guisarme:S Trip 2d4(20)x3 Main Once Trip
Bill:S Brace/Disarm/(+1 ac fight defensively) 1d8(20)x3
Bardiche:S Brace 1d10(19-20)x2Main Current Fauchard:S Trip 1d10(18-20)x2Main once am proficient
Wow sorry must have missed Dazing Assault on the first read through neat feat. Not sure about the -5 on a trip build. Seams like it would be more effective with cleave or dare I say Whirlwind Attack.
Know as far as Pushing Assault goes I'm not sure how I feel about it. Pushing things back and making them come back to me in a rush provoking an AoO if they only have a 5ft reach is nice but it would eat up my power attack bonus 6 points now 9 point at lvl 8, 12 points at lvl 12, and then ill be taking a -2,3,4 on those AoO plus, I'm not sure were I would fit it in.
Doing something fun like that is all great but at the end of the day your useless if you cant hit the damn thing.
Also will need to add the
Dragoncatch Guisarme to that list of golfclubs for flying mobs.
Some things to keep in mind before you read what I have here: I'm a noob at Pathfinder builds. I've done a lot of min/maxing in 3.0/3.5, and a lot of that "wisdom" carries over here, but as I haven't played past 7th level with any given character in this game, I'm not so great with the "top end" of a build.
1) The armor spikes solve the issue of threatened space outright. While your bardiche may not enable you to threaten adjacent squares, you can still hold the bardiche with one hand and swing your free hand to AoO an adjacent square. I ran a glaive fighter not too long ago, and the armor spikes were awesome.
2) Regarding your polearm selection -- I wouldn't worry much about the non-reach options. As strong as the nodachi is, I'm pretty sure that you won't gain as much by swapping polearms as you will simply using your armor spikes. Your list shows you have everything covered well, but I would also mention the ranseur -- the reaching disarm with 2d4 weapon damage is, in my mind, superior to the bill.
3) I highly recommend the Dodge/Mobility/Combat Reflexes/Combat Patrol suite. I think there are a few holes in your feat tree that could be tweaked to utilize this; they are: 3) Endurance and 16) Improved Iron Will (already there at level 12). You've mentioned an interest in Quick Draw; I think that's your third slot. Keep Dodge, and take the other three feats to enable a full round of AoOs -- you become the "Stabbing Shield" of the party.
4) Keep Improved Initiative.
5) Even if you don't go with the Combat Patrol option, considering the total threatened area you will have, Str and Dex will both be critical attribute scores for you -- Combat Reflexes alone is amazing. Making the most of your Dexterity for that purpose could eliminate altogether your interest in Endurance, since sleeping in light armor doesn't penalize you.
6) Keep Improved Initiative.
7) Vital Strike isn't the greatest feat, nor its Improved and Greater versions; every once in a while you'll have a round where there is a "gap" in the team buffs/battlefield control factors, and you'll get to use it. But that really only accounts for a typical party size of 4 - 5; with 6+, it may never happen -- you may be full-attacking (or Combat Patrolling) all the time, which would eliminate the feat's utility. That being said -- I enjoy all three of those feats; if you have a solid movement speed (at or above 50 would be best, I think) and Spring Attack, it *could* be a bit of a thing for its GM-maddening factor, but using it would negate much of your opportunity to go full-attack . . . . If you go with it, you might as well go the whole way; just don't be surprised if the chance to use it almost never comes up.
8) Trip beats Cleave. Tripping helps enable AoOs from the whole party, not just you. Free DPR is, probably, the most mathematically superior realization of action economy in Pathfinder; when you get to multiply that free DPR by the number of threatening characters, it leaves the solo quality of Cleave back at the starting line.
Don't bother about disarm. Monsters usually have no weapons. I suggest for things you can't trip(flying/too large/too many legs/no legs), you use dazing assault.
Combat patrol, forget it, because you spend an entire turn setting an area to guard, to have the swashbuckler move out of it because he wants to smack people up close.
Standstill works only on adjacent, and there's no way to boost the cmb, hence the chance of standstill working is low(high levels monsters have really high cmd). Don't bother about standstill.
Don't bother about quickdraw. Armor spikes and reach weapon is all you need.
Outflank is a teamwork feat. I repeat, do not plan others feats for them. It will do nothing if you just take it alone.
Look into belt of the weasel. You can be large without taking disadvantanges for being large. Unfortunately it takes the belt slot.
I think you can stack enhancements on one item, like having a belt of the weasel + belt of physical perfection. It makes them costlier, though.
Outflank and teamwork feats in general can actually be good with the fighter tactics advanced weapon training, and there is no harm checking with party members (like the rogue). Yes, you can only take so many AWTs, but if you go for several teamwork feats, fighter´s tactics is definitely worth it.
If you want to rock the Teamwork Feats, you might consider the Eldritch Guardian Archetype of Fighter. Eldritch Guardians get Familiars, and by level 2, their Familiars know all the Combat Feats their Masters know, including any Teamwork Feats that also happen to be Combat Feats.
I think the Mauler Familiar Archetype is the classic way to go, but I really like Protector Familiars. Protector Fmailiars start out with Bodyguard and Combat Reflexes, and can use Bodyguard even if they can't reach their opponents. With Bodyguard, your Familiar gets an Attack of Opportunity whenever you are attacked. Take Paired Opportunist, and you get an AoO, too! Your Familiar's AoO has to be Aid Another to Improve your AC, but there's no reason why yours can't be a thrust with a Greatsword. If you take Paired Opportunist by dipping in Cavalier or something, you gain the Tactician Class Ability, which means EVERYONE gets an Attack of Opportunity whenever you are attacked.
At level 5, Protector Familiars and the Masters share a Shield Other effect. I was thinking a dip in Alchemist and take Tumor Familiar. The Tumor Familiar stays part of your body, reducing all the damage you take by half, and its damage is offset by Fast Healing 5. And the word of the day is Double Hit Points.
Broken Wing Gambit seems like a swell Teamwork Feat for an Eldritch Guardian to take.
For the Crit/Teamwork/AoO Feats, I was thinking the way to go is Warpriest. Fauchard is nice, but so would twin kukris, doing Sacred Weapon Damage instead of the kukris' normal 1d4, with an 18-20 Threat Range, down to 15-20 when you take Impproved Crit. Then take Outflank and Crit Focus, and you will get AoOs off of every crit, and the rate of cascading crits will be pretty high.
Just finished up our latest session late last night.
I was able to change up a few thing, as we just arrived at one of the largest towns in the empire. I have gotten armor spikes added to may armor, and it costed me a pretty penny to do so.
I traded in my Masterwork Heavy Flail for a Masterwork Lucerne Hammer the 1D12 damage range on it is nice plus being that its a polarm it will beadle to take advantage of weapon training with it.
Also got talked into getting a fancy new masterwork bag to carry my weapons in. A regulation sized polearm golfclub bag, holds 14 polearms (and apparently my longswords), plus a maintenance kit. The polearm golfclub bag is kinda nice because I can both draw sheath and draw a weapon as a standard move action no need to drop it or spend a feat for quick draw now.
So our latest adventures we fought a huge sized troll, lets just say that it was an interesting experience, and pushed our part to the limit.
Most of the group front line fighter were down to 1/2 or fewer hp after 2 lightning attacks I got lucky and manged my saving throws to shake most of the damage and look lost only 13 hp, others were down 25 points. If it were not for the fact that our summoners pet was there to take a full attack, followed up by the summoner casting slow on the damn thing, and our DM not wanting me dead dead my character would be no more. A bite attack crit me for max damage doing 46 points of damage. Having only 41 points of health and already taking 13 points it was fatal. Our DM made the call and put me at -13 giving one of our healers and chance to save me. Lucky it was almost dead at that point and our swashbuckler who has been rolling ones and twos rolled another 2 then at the dms call changed dice rolled again and managed to take it down.
After a few healing potions, a few more heal spells, a lesser restoration spell, and 3 nights to recover I was back to my old self again. Now I just need to pay for the loner breast plate that literally got eaten, apparently I am going to work off the cost scene I'm going to be gone for 2 weeks it works for me, maybe I'll manage to get another polearm out of it as well.
Looks okayish, but I do not see the point of getting weapon specialist. Its purpose is to allow you to use feats for a specific weapon for every weapon in this category. At level 9, you do not have any such feats - unless exotic weapon proficiency counts - so this weapon training option does not help you much. BTW, tripping strike works better if you get improved critical earlier (and that weapon specialist can help you with).
Also, I am not a fan of endurance, but it can be good in some campaigns.
Endurance can be useful if you need to sleep in medium armor because you get ambushed at night a lot.
It's also a nice "flavor" feat and can help with some exploration exertions.
Endurance 2.0 screed:
But if they ever come out with a PF 2.0, I hope they change Endurance to a Constitution-based skill. Maybe make Concentration and maybe Labor Constitution-based skills too. And just increase every class's number of skill points by 2 (even Wizards! Maybe not Commoners...) to accommodate the additional skills.
And roll Arcane Spell Failure into Concentration, with proficient armor wearers able to Take 10. DC 15 for Light, DC 20 for Medium, DC 25 for Heavy.
And change the "Miss chance" from concealment, etc., to Disadvantage a la 5th Edition.
