I have an idea for a character. It is an old D&D character of mine, A gnome fighter (yes, gnome) Who i named Tina Kneebreaker (she got the name after shattering the knee of an earth titan with a magic hammer in our campaign.).
Anyways, her shtick was that she Knew how to use two handed weapons, Weapon and shield and duel wield in equal measure. Is a fighter Build like this possible in pathfinder? Or viable? I have tried vanilla but it seems to take so long to be viable in more than one way.
Possible? Sure. Effective? Maybe not.
You can take generally useful feats like power attack (w/furious focus), combat reflexes, sprinkle in the basic two-weapon fighting feat perhaps, but you won't be great at any of the styles. Since the only thing you'll have is fighting this is not a good situation.
Instead could I suggest the brawler class? With martial flexibility you can spend a move action to get a feat (later 2 or 3 feats) for a minute which seems like what you'd want. They get a few of their own shticks to add flavour but that's their core trick.
Thunderstriker fighter gets tricks to use 2-handers and a buckler, and twf-ing with a 1-hander and a buckler. You would want twf-feats and can swap the buckler for blades in a pinch
I think another option is something like Sword and Cestus. So you can alternate between two-handing the sword, or TWF'ing with the cestus.
Incidentally if you were a brawler martial flexibility could help out, and your damage with the cestus gets some serious boosts. Light armor doesn't matter too much with the DEX for TWF.
Working on it...
Thanks for the advice! The martial master was just what i was looking for. Allow you to switch your combat feats on the fly is pretty damn useful, especially for me since i use 3 different fighting styles to fit the situation. Lore warden also seems cool for letting my character use Combat maneuvers as well, even further boosting her Verstality. i know this is not the most Efficent way to battle, instead of choosing one style and sticking to it, but just having one style makes fighters...quite boring, actually.
I do have two issues though. And first is Actually switching weapons. Quick draw makes drawing a new weapon easy, but what about sheating the weapon? Doesn't that provoke opportunity attacks? Is there a way around this? In case i need to switch weapons on the fly.
Second issue i have is with Weapon focus feat. It seems that every single character who uses weapons takes this feat. Is this feat Really, Really awesome and i should not skip it? And if i have to take it, are there weapons that can be used both One-handed and two-handed effectively?
i kinda like the idea of using different weapons. Also if i find a Magic Sword and have focus for a hammer isn't that kinda counter intuitive?
Weapon Focus is a prerequisite for many useful feats (note for use with martial flex.!) and even on its own it's something you'll use every round, maybe multiple times a round. It's boring but effective.
Given how many magic weapons you're likely to find in your career which aren't what you want (wrong size, wrong magic ability, wrong material, inscribed with threatening evil runes which make you nervous ... ), selling them in order to buy or upgrade the exact weapon you want is the most practical way to go. If you find a keen flaming burst katana and decide you absolutely must use it you can retrain feats.
Sheathing weapons is a move action which provokes AoOs. Quick Draw doesn't affect it. Nothing does outside of 3rd party stuff as far as I know. Dropping weapons is a free action; it can help to have someone's familiar scuttling around collecting them. One possible exploit - technically there's no penalty for dropping one weapon attached to your arm via a weapon cord, then wielding another.
If you want to go Fighter you will how enough feats to cover your needs, but you will lack the expertise of any especialist in any of the three fighting styles you are listing.
However, you can still be quite competent. I would recommend picking up Barroom Brawler which allows the martial flexibility feature once a day. Then, at level five, expend your feat in advanced weapon training and grab Abundant tactics. Now you can use the feat extra times a day (escaling with weapon training and stacking with gloves of dueling).
This method isn't a perfect solution but helps you to be adaptable on lower levels.
For a feat selection to keep the versatile theme active, I would pick the bare essentials: Power attack, Two-weapon fighting, Improved Shield Bash and Quick draw. The last one allows you to switch swiftly between your weapons. From there, some recomendations:
Dirty fighting opens up maneuvers while flanking and fulfill requisites for the improved versions (which you can grab with barroom brawler if needed).
Combat reflexes is always good to have, specially if you use reach weapons (for your Two-handed style maybe).
Improved bravery is amazing if you go vanilla Fighter, mending your Will saves.
The Advanced armor training options are pretty good as well, Armor specialization and Armored juggernaut are great options.
Deadly aim can be a good choice too, to have better use for your throwing weapons that you can draw freely if you got Quick draw, allowing full-round attacks and making you effective at a distance as well.
Shrodinger's fighter is pretty complicated, but it can exist on any fighter virtually.
You'll need to take the feat Barroom Brawler.
Ever heard of Advanced Weapon Training? Check them out they are amazing.
You'll also want to take Quick Study.
Lastly, make sure to get a Manual of War.
With that combination, you can have 3 variable feats each day (more with Advanced Weapon Training, and more often.)
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I do have two issues though. And first is Actually switching weapons. Quick draw makes drawing a new weapon easy, but what about sheating the weapon? Doesn't that provoke opportunity attacks? Is there a way around this? In case i need to switch weapons on the fly.
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Sheathing weapons is a move action which provokes AoOs. Quick Draw doesn't affect it. Nothing does outside of 3rd party stuff as far as I know.
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Fresh from the Villain Codex.
You effortlessly stow items and sheathe weapons.
Prerequisites: Quick Draw, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when sheathing a weapon, and you can combine a move action to sheathe a weapon with a regular move action. (You can both stow and draw a weapon as part of the same move action in this way.) If you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, you can sheathe two light or one-handed weapons in the time it would normally take to sheathe one.
You can also quickly stow items in a backpack or other container that you are wearing or carrying. When you successfully use an action to pick up an item (including when you steal an item with a successful Sleight of Hand check or steal combat maneuver check), you can stow the item as part of the same action used to acquire it. You can try to hide this object by attempting a Sleight of Hand check with a –20 penalty, opposed by the Perception check results of all opponents.
Or you could buy a Scabbard of Many Blades to switch out weapons as a Move action (or a Swift action if you have Quick Draw).
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Second issue i have is with Weapon focus feat. It seems that every single character who uses weapons takes this feat. Is this feat Really, Really awesome and i should not skip it? And if i have to take it, are there weapons that can be used both One-handed and two-handed effectively?
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There are a few weapons that can be used in all three modes that you mentioned: one-handed, two-handed, and two-weapon fighting.
(1) A Taiaha can be wielded one-handed because it is a one-handed weapon. But it is also a double weapon and so both ends can be used for two-weapon fighting. And like all double weapons you can wield one end using two-hands.
(2) A quarterstaff is a two-handed double weapon so you can wield one end two-handed or use both ends for two-weapon fighting. If you take the Quarterstaff Master feat then you can also wield it one-handed.
(3) The doru, sibat, shortspear, and trident are all one-handed weapons from the Spears Fighter Weapon Group. All can be wielded two-handed, and the Spear Dancing Style feat will let you wield one of them as a double weapon.
(4) Building on the previous option, the Fighter's Fork is a nifty magical trident. You can brace it, throw it as a trident, throw it as a javelin, shorten it until it is a light weapon, wield it as a one-handed weapon, wield it as a two-handed weapon without reach, or lengthen it into a two-handed reach weapon. That's pretty versatile, especially since any feats and class abilities that apply to tridents apply in any of its forms. Take the Spear Dancing Style feat and you can also use it as a double weapon. Or you could two-weapon fight by using it in light-weapon form in one hand and using a regular trident one-handed in the other.