Pathfinder An overview of the Fighter class - Why you should play one!

[Chippy]

How the class with full-power pet could be "da shit"? And who would call so the class that can buff the whole group in every fight without rest?

Rangers are 'da shit' donchaknow. See, you Russians used the pencil with every other class, but you spent several millions on the anti-gravitational pen with the Ranger class. And the pen is mightier than the sword. As long as a man knows how to use a pen, and to whom the pen belongs.

So it is written. Apparently.

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

A new fighterino build. But hopefully a decent one this time!

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The Dualmaster is a good boy who dual wields two dueling swords. Though not at first. You'll see why. The whole point is to make a good frontline fighter that can spam damage in melee. So here's how we put the whole thing together. You can use this on unfair. It will be difficult at level 1 because the will have a hard time to hit things than if you were to start with a STR build so you'll have to rely more on cheese and won't be able to make as many mistakes. But you won't be reloading all day; maybe a few times. But it will start to get better at level 2. Then you use sai until level 5. At level 5, you can start to use a dueling sword in your main hand and Sai in your off hand. Go grab Swordsman's Passion ASAP. When you're around level 12-13 you should've found a few good +3 dueling swords. Equip two at level 13. The moment you're able to get bloodhound, use it in your main hand.

Race: Aasimar(Plumekin) or one of the +2 DEX, +2 WIS Tieflings
Class: 2 Traditional Monk, 4 Thug, 14 Aldori Defender
Alignment: Any Lawful
Stats:
STR 14
DEX 19
CON 14
INT 7
WIS 16
CHA 7

Level 1 - Traditional Monk - Feats: Crane Style, dodge - Skills: Mobility, Stealth
Level 2 - Thug - Skills: Mobility, Stealth, Trickery, Perception
Level 3 - Thug - Feats: Two Weapon Fighting, Combat Trick: Double Slice - Skills: Mobility, Stealth, Trickery, Perception
Level 4 - Thug - Finesse Training: Dueling Sword - Skills: Trickery, Stealth, Perception
Level 5 - Aldori Defender - Feats: Outflank, Weapon Focus: Dueling Sword - Skill: Perception

Level 6 - Aldori Defender - Feat: Dazzling Display - Skill: Perception
Level 7 - Aldori Defender - Feat: Improved Two Weapon Fighting - Skill: Perception
Level 8 - Aldori Defender - Feat: Shatter Defenses - Weapon Training: Heavy Blades - Skill: Perception
Level 9 - Aldori Defender - Feat: Improved Critical - Skill: Perception
Level 10 - Aldori Defender - Skill: Perception

Level 11 - Aldori Defender - Feat: Wings (if aasimar; if not, your choice) - Skill: Perception
Level 12 - Aldori Defender - Skill: Perception
Level 13 - Aldori Defender - Feat: Greater Two Weapon Fighting - Weapon Training: Effortless Dual Wielding - Skill: Perception
Level 14 - Thug - Feat: Combat Trick: Greater Weapon Focus - Skills: Perception, Mobility
Level 15 - Traditional Monk - Feats: Weapon Specialization, Blind Fight - Skills: Perception, Mobility

Level 16 - Aldori Defender - Skills: Perception
Level 17 - Aldori Defender - Feats: Piranha Strike - Skills: Perception
Level 18 - Aldori Defender - Feats: Greater Weapon Specialization - Skills: Perception
Level 19 - Aldori Defender - Feats: Accomplished Sneak Attacker - Weapon Training: Fighter Tactics - Skills: Perception
Level 20 - Aldori Defender - Feats: Seize the Moment - Skills: Perception

I just realized I typed something wrong here. You can go to 18 WIS with Pumekith/Tiefling. Though 16 is what you start with as human. So whatever, you can change the race to that and take deflect arrows for the early levels. Or maybe half-elf if you don't need the extra feat.

 

[Pink Eye]

To contribute to the thread, here's a build that I think is quite nice! This is the sword master! The sword master focuses all of his training into one weapon. While fighting without using heavy armor. He is a true master at his craft, and it shows. The sword master usually prefers to dedicate his craft on the Estoc weapon(The reason being because Deflect Arrows works with Estoc and because its a cool looking weapon. My favorite weapon!). Of course, any other weapon is fine. After all, they don't call him a master for nothing!

Monk is picked mainly for the AC bonus from mental stats. Eighteen levels of fighter are chosen specifically for weapon training progression. For stats, we want a high STR. For DEX and WIS we want them to be high. If the ten CON bothers you, you can drop STR to 17 and pump CON up a bit. Now for the build!

Race: Human (As always, extra feat is fantastic!)
Class: 2 Traditional Monk/ 18 Fighter
Alignment: Lawful Good (You can pick any other lawful alignment. I picked lawful good for the Protector's Robes)
Stats:
STR 19
DEX 16
CON 10
INT 7
WIS 16
CHA 7

Level 1 - Traditional Monk - Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency(Estoc), Deflect Arrows, Crane Style - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 2 - Traditional Monk - Feats: Dodge - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 3 - Fighter - Feats: Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus(Estoc) - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 4 + 1 STR - Fighter - Feats: Combat Reflexes - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 5 - Fighter - Feats: Outflank - Skills: Mobility, Perception.

Level 6 - Fighter - Feats: Power Attack - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 7 - Fighter - Feats: Weapon Specialization(Estoc) - Weapon Training: Heavy Blades - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 8 + 1 STR - Fighter - Feats: Improved Critical(Estoc) - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 9 - Fighter - Feats: Crane Wing - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 10 - Fighter - Feats: Crane Riposte - Skills: Mobility, Perception.

Level 11 - Fighter - Feats: Greater Weapon Focus(Estoc) - Weapon Training: Armed Bravery, Heavy Blades - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 12 + 1 STR - Fighter - Feats: Critical Focus - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 13 - Fighter - Feats: Staggering Critical - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 14 - Fighter - Feats: Tiring Critical - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 15 - Fighter - Feats: Iron Will - Weapon Training: Trained Initiative, Heavy Blades - Skills: Mobility, Perception.

Level 16 + 1 STR - Fighter - Feats: Critical Mastery - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 17 - Fighter - Feats: Shake it Off - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 18 - Fighter - Feats: Greater Weapon Specialization(Estoc) - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 19 - Fighter - Feats: Penetrating Strike - Weapon Training: Fighter's Reflexes, Heavy Blades - Skills: Mobility, Perception.
Level 20 + 1 STR - Fighter - Feats: Greater Penetrating Strike - Skills: Mobility, Perception.

What you can expect in terms of damage:

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Level 1:

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Level 2:

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Level 3:

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Level 5:

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Level 6:

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Level 7:

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Level 8:

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Level 11:

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Level 12:

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Level 14:

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Level 18:

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Level 20:

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Not bad for a character who was stuck with a + 1 estoc for the duration of the Unfair run, huh.

 

[Pink Eye]

FriendlyMerchant
Equipment list
>Equipment list
Equipment list
>Equipment list
Yay or Nay?

 

[Desiderius]

Falcata dual-wield:

Deceptively dominant:

 

[Desiderius]

The unique strength of the Fighter class is how well it supports combat maneuvers, which are generally underrated but very powerful since they don't care about Spell Resistance, Saves, or Armor.

 

[RK47]

 

[Pink Eye]

Tower Shield Specialist. First off, let's explain some things. Valerie is not a good TSS. She's a great companion, but sucks at being a TSS. She is better off as a base fighter. A TSS requires decent stats to be fully effective, which Valerie lacks, due to her unique stat spread. The main problem is her INT and DEX. You need 14 DEX minimum to squeeze additional AC from heavy armor. In the early game you need all the AC you can get for your tank. Not starting with 14 DEX hurts. Another thing is her INT. You need at least 13 INT to qualify for combat expertise. This feat is huge, it opens up a lot of options for martial users. It also gives AC. Which you kind of want for a front tank.

With that out the way, lets talk about the class and the kind of build you will want on it. In my opinion, TSS is a valid choice for an early game tank. It doesn't need much to be decent except for basic gear and feats. It also continues being a decent tank in the higher levels, of course it gets outclassed by your sword saints, monks, and mirror image users. Anyways, what do I mean when I say it is a valid choice for an early game tank. Now do be noted, since I am using the DLC dungeon. I will have access to heavy armor at level one. In the main game, you don't get access to heavy armor until later, specifically after you leave the prologue area. But, that's okay. The point is to portray just how effective the TSS can be in the early levels with decent equipment.
Here is how much AC the TSS can achieve at level one:

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Twenty five AC is quite good. It coupled with fighting defensively = nice AC. But that was with heavy armor. Here's what it looks like with medium armor(Which is what you start with in the prologue):

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Again, twenty three AC is not bad at this level. Especially for the early game. With the feats Dodge, Shield Focus, Heavy Armor focus, and Fighting Defensively. The TSS is able to reach decent AC.

Due to the unique nature of the class however. This isn't something I'd recommend for a main character. Unless of course, this is a class you want to play. In which case, go for it! In any case I feel this class is better suited for a mercenary. As this class's main function is to primarily front line. Alright. Let's talk about the kind of feats and stats that I think you'd want to run with on your TSS.

Race: You can go Human for extra feat. Aasimar for the wings. Dwarf for steel soul. Halfling for cautious fighter. Or tiefiling for the Shackleborn heritage. For this demonstration I will be using a human.

Class: There is a lot of ways to go about this. Here the different class combos you can do. Pure TSS is also perfectly fine if you don't want to multiclass. Lets first talk about vivi. Four levels of vivi is nice because it gives us the ability to pick preserve organs. This gives you a 25% chance to negate a critical hit or sneak attack. Pretty good for someone that is going to be face tanking. If you go four levels you can pick the feat twice, further increasing the bonus to 50%. You can also dip six levels of vivi to pick the feat three times. Thus increasing the bonus to 75%. Really good. Stalwart Defender is another good choice. You can go up to five or even ten levels. This gives you access to AC stance, bonuses to AC, DR, and uncanny dodge. All good stuff. Another is a level one dip into monk. This allows easier access to the crane style feat, also good. There are other class combos you can do, but the ones listed are the main ones that you need to know if you want to increase your tanks potency.

Stats: The main important thing is getting DEX to 14 and INT to 13. A high CON is necessary because you don't want your main front liner to die from a couple hits. You also need a decent WIS as well. An example of a stat spread will look something like this:
STR 14
DEX 14
CON 16
INT 13
WIS 12
CHA 8

Feats: Here are the feats I recommend running:
Armor Focus (Heavy Armor)
Dodge (A prerequisite for stalwart defender)
Shield Focus
Toughness (More health. Also needed to become a stalwart defender)
Improved Initiative (Initiative is always nice on a martial character as it minimizes how long it takes for them to act)
Combat Expertise (This feat is huge. In addition to granting AC bonuses. It also opens us up to use dirty trick. Dirty trick is amazing because it targets CMD. It also gives us something to do besides face tanking.)
Outflank
Combat Reflexes (This in conjnction with Outflank increases the amount of AoOs you can dish out)
Iron Will (Will saves are very important in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. There are a lot nasty spells that attack will)
Improved Iron Will
Shake it off
Missile Shield
Blind Fight
Weapon Focus (Long Sword - This is due to the fact that there long swords that grant bonuses to AC.)
Improved Blind Fight
Greater Blind Fight
Greater Dirty Trick
Crane Style (Super nice as it grants an additional point of AC when used with fighting defensively. Need three ranks of mobility to benefit the most from it though.)
Greater Shield Focus
Combat Mobility (It's not vital. But its nice as it gives you an additional AC when moving towards or out of a threatened area. Makes breaking from engagements to cover the flank easier.)
Sunder Armor (A good alternative to dirty trick. Used to chip away AC from an enemy.)
Greater sunder armor
Lighting Reflexes (Having decent reflex saves is welcomed)
Improved Lighting Reflexes
Improved Critical (For AoO procing)
Greater Weapon Focus
Crane Wing (This feat is bugged and works with shield users.)

Okay, here's an example build that can reach decent AC even on the high levels:
Race: Human
Class: 20 TSS
Stats:
STR 16
DEX 14
CON 16
INT 13
WIS 11
CHA 7

Level 1 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Armor Focus(Heavy Armor), Dodge, Shield Focus - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Knowledge(World), Athletics.
Level 2 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Missile Shield - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 3 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Knowledge(World), Athletics.
Level 4 + 1 WIS - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Crane Style - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 5 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Outflank - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Knowledge(World), Athletics.

Level 6 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Combat Expertise - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 7 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Toughness - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Knowledge(World), Athletics.
Level 8 + 1 STR - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Greater Shield Focus - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 9 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Dirty Trick - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Knowledge(World), Athletics.
Level 10 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Greater Dirty Trick - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.

Level 11 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Crane Wing - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 12 + 1 STR - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Power Attack - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 13 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Combat Reflexes - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Knowledge(World), Athletics.
Level 14 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Weapon Focus (Long Sword) - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Knowledge(World), Athletics.
Level 15 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Shake it Off - Skills: Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.

Level 16 + 1 STR - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Improved Critical (Long Sword) - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 17 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Iron Will - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 18 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Greater Weapon Focus (Long Sword) - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 19 - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Improved Iron Will - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.
Level 20 + 1 STR - Tower Shield Specialist - Feats: Blind Fight - Skills: Mobility, Perception, Athletics.

Here's how much AC it can reach in the high levels:

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As you can see. TSS can reach respectable levels of AC in both the early game and late game. The problem is that the class is outclassed by Sword Saints, Monks, and Mirror Image users. But if you're looking for an alternative to those builds, then look no further. TSS is more than capable of filling the role.