There are multiple ways to look at the Fighter, and shoehorning him into a combat style breaks the very generic likeability of the class. Many so called “fixes” do this, while others try to adhere to the general flexibility of the class and simply add some new mechanics or class abilities. Well, if you seriously, want to 'fix' the Fighter, I outline the kinds of steps you need to take below.
First, looking at the class and you can instantly see that the Fighter is the “feats guy.” What does that mean? In Core, that means he gets a lot more feats then anyone else. The problem here is that now feats both do and don’t equal class abilities by any measure, especially in core. They don't scale well, there aren't enough of them to measure up to a PrC, and the choices available don't really allow the Fighter to do the one thing he should--be able to both specialize in a fighting skill and have versatility to back him up.
The Core Fighter is designed with the belief that he can specialize in combat and use his feats to support/cover his weaknesses. This is a strange belief because the game rewards the specialist, not the generalist, and yet a Fighter can't specialize enough. He literally doesn’t get enough class abilities to do what he needs to do to protect against a specialist.
==============
”Fixing” the Fighter
First improve the base chassis of the class (Hd, Skills, skill points, proficiencies, saves). The introduction of the Warblade is just that. The flavor text of the Warblade is almost a mirror of the flavor text of the Fighter in the PHB2 (read them one after another). These are the characters who practice, practice, practice, and love to FIGHT.
But the core chassis of the Warblade blows the Fighter out of the water. The Warblade also gets scaling class abilities based on Intelligence. No feat investment and free scaling is NICE. Then, to top it off, they get 18 feat equivalents (maneuvers and stances), completely demolishing any hint of balance sans the Fighter. And they have four bonus feats on top of it all. That’s something like 28 feat equivalents in 20 levels, before all is said and done. And people wonder why the Fighter is lagging.
So, lets look at what the Warblade REALLY does.[
1) Core class is great. Skill points, Hit Dice, Skills, saves, proficiencies. Everything a Fighter should have.
Sole weakness: No heavy armor/Tower Shields, no missile weapons. Take the HD down to D10 and those 3 items are paid for. Or you could make a Fighter bonus feat that gave you all three. That would lift the value of the profs. I strongly believe that the core armor/weapon profs should be more valuable--and stronger--and people should pay more for them for that value.
2) Intrinsic class abilities that scale with level, based off Int. This doesn't introduce MAD but it lets people be rewarded for playing a smart fighter. With magic, even a 12 Int can hit 22 at level 20, for a nice +6 bonus, scaling up from +1 at 1st level (+6 item, +4 Inherent).
3) Swapping feats: The Warblade calls these manuvers. As you level, you gain access to clearly stronger feats. Also, you can even 'swap out' pre-req feats, for stronger feats!
In other words, this is like needing WF and WS to qualify for GWF (let's assume it's +2 and overrides Weapon Focus). Then, simply swap WF out for GWS, and swap out WS for Melee Weapon Mastery. It's exactly the same mechanic. You get rid of the lower power feat, replace it with something better, and suddenly you are leveraging feats. With retraining rules from UA, you can do this every level. By the Martial classes, you can do it once every four levels, basically allowing you an additional 5 feats! (Yes, that now gives the Warblade 33 Feat Equivalents!). In short, you get rid of the crap low-level stuff that doesn't scale for the stuff you should have as a masterful warrior of your level.
4) Feats that scale properly: The Warblade calls these maneuvers. Clearly, there are maneuvers that are based on level (Diamond Mind concentration check ones come to mind, as they improve with ranks), others that improve with BAB (because you hit more often), and others that simply grant more added effects. The Nightmare blade sequence, which is really how the spec/focus tree should be arranged, but I digress. At level 17, the Warblade is guaranteed a strike that can do +100 damage, if he wants it. Or 2d6 Con damage. That's a 9th level effect. It's a feat worthy of a 17th level character. So, the Warblade has both feats that scale and feats that are worth the level they are taken at. It has some that are both!
5) Versatility: The Warblade knows more maneuvers then he can use at any one time. That's fine, the class is set up not to need them all the time. But with just a little bit of time, he can adjust what he has on hand for any specific encounter. Does he need more boosts and counters? Swap out the mega strikes. Hack down the big thing? Strikes are back in. Tricks and traps? Save boosters. Social situation? General purpose.
He can even adjust his entire weapon tree on a virtual WHIM. The Fighter, the master of using weapons can't. So, for a social situation, the Warblade can be death with daggers or his empty hands. The Fighter is stuck with the Greatsword mastery sitting out by the guards. The Warblade can then become a master of the longspear for fighting in a mass battle with allies, shift to a rapier for a formal duel, or pick up the Greatsword to strut his stuff as an adventurer, or grab that lance and couch it behind the shield for some charging fun (if he grabs some Ride ranks), and then swap out for morningstars for beating on ranks of skeletons. That is one useful set of skills that comes from ONE ability. It exactly parallels the ability of spellcasters to change their spells to deal with specific situations. It doesn't have the raw power or versatility of spells...but then, they don't have to lose their spellbooks, either.
6) Exclusivity: This is both a 'flavor' issue and a generic issue.; it is something one class has that no one else does. The Warblade shares with Swordsage and Crusader full Initiator level. Ergo, anyone can learn Maneuvers, they just won't be good because they aren't a Martial class. (The Fighter over in the corner, and the Barbarian, both look at one another in confusion. They must be chopped beef!)
Thus, high level maneuvers become exclusive. The Barbarian has his Rage and Class DR. The Fighter has nothing class exclusive. The closest analog is feats that can be taken only by Fighters--which is a feat function. Of course, the Warblade has a class ability that overrides this feat exclusiveness.
7) Capstone. Something that makes the class worth taking for 20 levels. For the Warblade, this is the striking ability of having 2 stances in play at once. That’s tremendously useful. 2 High-level stances is like having 2 7th level spells in effect. Fighters have nothing available as a Capstone. In essence, the only reason to take it for 20 levels as a class is to become an Epic Fighter. Woo hoo.
Warblades actually have 3 different capstones. They can take a level of Fighter, and a Fighter bonus feat, at level 20, and if they took the tree, get Weapon Supremacy, the Fighter 'virtual' capstone! Or, they can take a Fighter level, get Martial Study as the bonus feat, and take, oh, a 9th level strike, like, say, the Stone Dragon one! OR, they can take their Warblade ability, and get the double stance. Decisions, decisions.
So, here we are. Fighter against Warblade. 11 Feats against 33 and a superior Core chassis. How do we redress this?
1) Redo that core chassis.
2) Give Fighters versatility. They have versatility in build, but not in play. And their build versatility is dwarfed by their number of feats they could potentially learn. Warblades have fewer maneuvers but can choose more of them, and have bonus feats on top of it!
3) Have feats that scale by level and are worth the level they are taken at.
4) Intrinsic and scaling class abilities. The Warblade gets more then just maneuvers. Why can't the Fighter get more then just feats?
5) Feat swapping. Out with the crap, in with the shiny.
6) Exclusivity. Somehow, somewhere, give them something no one else can do.
7) A capstone. One that rocks HARD. One that makes people want to sit up and play a pure fighter. And not some dross feat that some Warblade can count his level-2 towards getting, either.
8) No Dead Levels. This simple fact borks a Fighter hard. First, it somehow evaluates the ‘value’ of a feat to the abilities of two levels of other classes, which is insane. It makes comparing class/level benefits impossible and lopsided. There’s a feat to increase DR by one, or give a rage use a day, but if a Fighter takes it, suddenly it has to be equal to two feats to equal what other classes get? Because he is a Fighter, he only gets a feat every other level when other classes get one every level.
Then it then becomes very, very easy to compare the Fighter to a PrC. If the Fighter got a feat every level he could take on any martial, full BAB PrC out there, and compare level benefits 1:1. A great number of PrCs could be thrown out and replaced by custom Feat trees that have you take the specialized feats in order. If they were balanced for the PrC, they will be balanced if taken as Fighter Feats.
Now, brave game designer, exactly how are we to do this?
A) Master of Many Feats: Fighter, more feats/feat-equivalents then anyone. (Warblade with 33 does this much better).
B) Master of Feats: Fighter levels mean you use feats better then someone else who has those feats, of the same level. (Initiator levels, anyone?)
C) Master of Applied Feats: The Fighter can change his feats so as to be able to deal with almost any situation. (Known vs. readied maneuvers, weapon feat swapping)
D) Master of Feats Beyond Feats; The Fighter can complete Feat trees that no one else can finish, because that's what Fighters do. (Initiator level mechanic - non-martial classes basically cannot get level 9 Maneuvers). Maybe even two of them!
E) Master of Feats of War: The Fighter can perform all the classic roles of a master of all the martial arts: Mass Combat, Personal Combat, Tactical Combat, Strategy, Command, Leadership. You are a student of all the arts of battle. You can fight anything and anyone, on any scale. And wars in the courts are as lethal as wars on the field...you have to be able to fight there, too. The potential to be these things must be built into the class. (A function of Martial Schools and core chassis).
F) Master of Feats of Style: Build the Fighter to be the warrior you want. Swashbuckler? Pirate? Gladiator? Soldier? Knight? These are simply different Fighter builds. Building these styles is a function of having the feats available to do so. (A lesser function of the Schools and weapon choices, skill reqs for maneuvers.)
The Warblade does all these things well, and, in different ways, so does the Swordsage and the Crusader. Furthermore, the Warblade is plenty generic, with no constraints to a specific weapon or style. The power comes from the maneuvers, not the weapon or style, and style is now a choice of roleplaying that is seamlessly integrated.
Can we do with feats what was done with Maneuvers? Well, why not? A Maneuver and making the key skill for its school a class skill equals one feat . They capped it at 3 maximum, because by definition, a maneuver is considered less then a feat. Even a Stance merely equals a feat! Consider the strangeness of feats: If Initiator level were not a factor, a Fighter could spend one feat to take the capstone Strike of the Stone Dragon school, AND gain Balance as a class skill. An IL17th level ability, for one feat. And then we have Toughness, also a feat, but no ‘exclusive’ IL rank req.
Do we need Schools? No. We need equivalent Feat Trees. What is a Martial School from the perspective of the Fighter, but a whole collection of feat trees, with amazingly easy pre-reqs (no need for stats, just prior feats/maneuvers and some skill ranks)? Do we need PrCs for Fighters? No. Just assign class abilities to equal feats and create a feat tree. Problem solved. If you have a Fighter feat for every level, this is almost ridiculously easy. If people decry balance, laugh and point at the equivalents.
Fighter vs Warblade analysis http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19573526/Analyzing_the_Fighter_vs_The_Warblade
The Lockdown F/20 iconic build http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19856162/A_little_Lock_build_for_you
Do we need Schools? No. We need equivalent Feat Trees. What is a Martial School from the perspective of the Fighter, but a whole collection of feat trees, with amazingly easy pre-reqs (no need for stats, just prior feats/maneuvers and some skill ranks)? Do we need PrCs for Fighters? No. Just assign class abilities to equal feats and create a feat tree. Problem solved. If you have a Fighter feat for every level, this is almost ridiculously easy. If people decry balance, laugh and point at the equivalents.
I wholeheartedly agree with you in general. And, moreover, I think the feats in the Player's Handbook II went a great deal of a long way to add some more oomph to the fighter to make him start to make a come back. But it is, after all, only a comeback.
One thing your article did provide is how much more different the Tome of Nine Swords is from core D&D. And, personally, I think that's a shame. The designers saw a problem ("Fighters are lagging because Spellcasters are so much more powerful") and fixed it in - in my opinion - entirely the wrong way ("Let's create a new class that's totally like the Fighter, except better.") It's called overcompensation people.
What we really needed weren't three new classes with a brand new system to learn. What we really needed were better Feats, more Feat trees, and more importantly, feat trees that could probably accomplish the same thing as Stances and Maneuvers. There was absolutely no reason to come up with a brand new system (other than the obvious - WoTC is a business, and they need to make money; which I respect.) The current system was fine, they're just not taking advantage of it. More feats for Fighters!
I've almost nothing to add, just the fighter is weak enough to add semi-gestalt to it without upsetting balance at all. At level 3, and each odd level up, add in the gestalt level stuff directly onto the F 20 chassis. So, rogue 9 gets evasion, skills, +5d6 sneak and wizard 9 gets slightly hinky-er spell casting than Pally or Ranger, etc.
Hrm, interesting observations. I like some of your ideas but I think you need to rethink being able to screw with prereqs. Main reason being that it can create some strange issues involving how feats work. A better idea might be something similar to Iron heroes where feats have levels to them, maybe fighters get an extra ability or something like that out of a feat.
I’ve taken a look at how the Fighter compares to the Warblade, and will also do some elementary fixes about the crucial edge of the Fighter (specifically, his mastery of weapons for damage by level).
Here, in the current game, is how the Fighter actually scales.
1) Commoner: The unfighting Fighter. This is your basic pathetic human, who can’t do much of anything other then spend his 3 skill points on staying alive. Note, however, that this pathetic human has a better skill list then a Fighter, including both Spot and Listen for some reason.
2) The Warrior: While the book likes to portray the Warrior as the NPC fighting class, this is ridiculous. The Warrior is not a ‘career soldier, mercenary’ or other such type. He’s a commoner who knows how to fight.
The Warrior is effectively a Commoner with an additional skill or two, a Good BAB, stronger fort save, and some familiarity with weapons and armor. In other words, he’s Militia, voluntary fighting types, OR the commoners of barbaric tribes, where day to day fighting might be a part of life. A family with a strong history of assembling when the Lord demands levies is probably warriors. Most barbaric commoners who live in rough country (subject to raids, monster attacks, etc) are probably warriors.
This is not a class of professional, full time combat types. They might fill Police roles, since Police are considered inherently less combat focused then Military, but the only place they belong in a military is as levies. Their skill list should be everything a commoner gets, + those in the Warrior list.
3) Fighters: While the flavor text for the PHB II says otherwise, the setup of the Fighter and its fizzling ability to scale well basically makes it a low level threat. The Fighter is a 4 level Dire Threat. At low levels those bonus feats kill, and make for awesome soldiers and full time professionals who take pride in their combat ability. However, these guys are not adventurers. They do one thing, they do it well, and they suck anyplace outside a combat situation. Effectively, Fighters are Warriors making a career out of combat, as opposed to going home to other duties or having split duties.
Their skill list should include all the Warrior Skills, + Profession (soldier), Knowledge (history and nobility) and probably the Ride skill. Their additional ability with heavy armor and tower shields points to a full time, seasoned combatant whose abilities nonetheless start to peter out quickly. They can very quickly make work of less talented combatants at low level in their niche specialties, however. As subjects of constant training, they should also have more skill points to do their core jobs better, namely being good soldiers.
The core Fighter as presented makes a lousy knight, a poor commander, a clumsy duelist or unarmed combatant, an inept buffoon in social situations, and an unfit champion. Even his weapon specializing abilities tend to fall away to other classes, especially PrC’s.
4) The Warblade: These guys actually have formal schools, and abilities that scale from low to high level, ending in superhuman abilities that plainly extend beyond the mundane. The Fighter can learn on the street. Warblades actually need a master, and obsess over martial secrets, martial lore, and have a broad range of class abilities enabling them to master any of the various facets of warfare that they care to. Their flexibility and power dwarfs that of the Fighter, and anything the Fighter can learn. So can the Warblade and the Warblade can often learn a better version of it.
These guys are actually an adventuring class, perfectly at home in the field, dungeon, or court as they prefer. They really have no purpose in life other then to be great heroes and try to grab for the ultimate styles and forms and fight foes that make lesser mortals flee in terror…and they can do it.
Rangers, Paladins and Barbarians fall into the category of specialized Fighters with extra abilities to make them more functional. The Barbarian is the general Super Human…stronger, faster, tougher, the survivor and the overwhelming fury. The Ranger is effectively Special Forces and has spells, to boot! The Paladin is the blessed weapon of the LG gods, riding out to confront evil, direly powerful at his specialty, subpar at combat outside it, but also highly at home in the courts. The Knight is the civilized anti-barbarian, who gains his power from dueling individually with champions as opposed to general slaughter against anyone.
Other Gish builds basically just build on Full BAB and a mix of skills, saves and the like, then add spells into the mix, and everyone knows that spells scale much better then feats do, as do most class abilities.
A Fighter betrays his presentation in the PHB2, because he isn't all the things it says he is. The Warblade almost lifts the same text word for word and IS all those things.
So, if you want to change the Fighter, you have to change what exactly his place in the scheme of things he is. As it is now, he is a dire low level threat, because bonus feats, heavy armor, shields and weapons rock at lower levels with good HP and BAB to back them up.
At higher level, the seriousness of the threat falls off as the survivability and capability of spellcasters pick up. By the end game, the Fighter is exactly as useful as the primary spellcasters and the Gish choose to make him, and not much more. His class abilities are dwarfed by the importance of his gear, whereas for most classes, it is the other way around.
===Aelryinth
Fighter vs Warblade analysis http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19573526/Analyzing_the_Fighter_vs_The_Warblade
The Lockdown F/20 iconic build http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19856162/A_little_Lock_build_for_you
Different Ways to ‘Fix’ Weapon Specialization and their Cost to a Fighter.
In my above post, I noted how a Warblade happily out-does a Fighter because he has 33 Feat Equivalents. One of the common ways to fix a Fighter is to introduce more feats. Another way of doing this is giving ‘feat-equivalents’ of core abilities to the Fighter as class abilities.
The only thing resembling a ‘class ability’ of the Fighter is the Weapon Focus/Spec/Supremacy Tree. These feats specifically have Fighter reqs. Unfortunately, there are still classes that can take them, and taking the whole tree burns up 6 or 7 of the Fighter’s 11 Bonus feats--hardly a good trade off. Here are the alternate methods towards fixing this problem.
==============================
Weapon Focus, the Scaling Feat
1) Remove Fighter level reqs from the Weapon Focus/Spec feat, replace with BAB. If another class wants to take them, bully for them.
2) Weapon Focus is now rewritten as follows:
Weapon Focus You focus your weapons training on one weapon to master it more then others. Prereq: +1 BAB Benefit: You gain a +1 TH with the selected weapon. Special: If this feat is taken as a Fighter Bonus feat, you gain the additional benefits: Fighter level 4 – You gain +2 Dmg with the selected weapon. This counts as Weapon Specialization. Fighter level 6 – Your TH bonus rises to +2. This counts as Greater Weapon Focus. Fighter level 8 – Your threat range with the weapon you have Focus in is doubled, as per Improved Critical. Fighter level 10 – You gain an additional TH/Dmg bonus of +2/+2 for all weapons dealing the type of damage your weapon does. This stacks with other bonuses from this feat. This counts as Weapon Mastery of the appropriate category. Fighter level 12 – Your base dmg bonus for your Focused Weapon rises to +4, for a total base of +2/+4 with your weapon. This counts as Greater Weapon Specialization. Fighter level 18 – You gain the benefits of Weapon Supremacy with your Weapon. If you have Weapon focus in more then one weapon, chose only one weapon to have Supremacy in.
Thus, you now have one feat that scales with Fighter levels. This simultaneously gives the Fighter a ‘class ability’ and it replicates the ability of the Warblade to ‘swap out’ less useful feats for greater ones, minimizing the costs.
Tweaks: Note that the wording of the feat does not allow Warblades to use the expanded value of the feat. Warblades count as Fighters for taking feats, not gaining additional benefits from them. In short, their class ability largely becomes moot.
Change the spacing on the levels. For instance, Weapon Supremacy is the capstone at Fighter/18 because there’s a feat there. With scaling, Supremacy should be properly moved back to level 17, where it becomes a sort of ‘capstone’ feat.
Inserting level changes to fix dead levels, you could then have the benefits accrue at levels 3,7,9,11,13 and 17.
At level 5, grant Quick Draw with the specialized weapon.
At level 15, you could Insert Power Critical - +4 to confirm Critical Threats.
At level 19, you could insert another feat equivalent (no weapon specific/general ones spring to mind atm). A possibility is all abilities of the tree apply to all weapons you have Melee Weapon Mastery in, except for Weapon Supremacy…truly a great reward for 19 levels of Fighter!
Mechanic: This gives the Fighter a scaling and increasing ability to deal damage with the weapons he practices with most. All other classes have damage dealing abilities that are not dependent on weapon type.
It also removes the increasing need to deal damage from the Fighter’s expenditure of bonus feats, effectively freeing up 7-8 feats to help the Fighter with versatility.
===================
Master of Weapons
This approach is designed to make a Fighter truly good with a limited number of weapons, at the cost of others. It somewhat mirrors the way a Warblade has no missile weapon proficiencies. It is biased towards Martial weapons. Those weapons proven to be the absolute best over time. Exotic Weapons by their nature lack simplicity and elegance.
Weapon Master You master some weapons to the exclusion of all others Pre-Req: +1 BAB Benefit: Double all bonuses you get from weapons as you take the Weapon Focus/Spec Tree (not including Weapon Supremacy). This feat counts as Weapon Focus in all other ways (i.e. +1 TH with a single weapon, etc).
If you have Weapon Master in any weapon, you take a –2 TH with any weapon you do not have Weapon Focus/Master in.
If you have Greater Weapon Focus, you take a –4 TH with any weapon you do not have Weapon Focus/Master in. -- Mechanics: Forces the character to burn feats on the Spec Tree, but now Specializing really means you are specializing…your ability with other weapons suffers, but you are truly the Lord of the Sword, the Master of the Mace, etc. Abso-smurfly no one can deny you that. The cost of taking all the spec feats means it is highly unlikely another class will rise to rival your ability in your chosen weapon. This is the feat for the guy obsessed with becoming the best swords guy in the land.
===========
Weapon Sympathy You train weapons in tandem, and learn their secrets together. Pre-Req: (Master of Weapons), Two Weapon Fighting If you are capable of simultaneously wielding two weapons that you have Weapon Focus in, the benefits of the Weapon Focus/Spec/Mastery chain (not including Supremacy) applies to both.
Specifically, this refers to a light and medium weapon. You can take feats to allow the wielding of larger weapons to expand the utility of this feat. This weapon can be taken multiple times, as long as the weapon combination is satisfied. (For instance, you could take Sword up the Spec tree, Sympathy in the Dagger, then Sympathy in the Short Spear since it can be wielded with the Dagger, or perhaps a Morningstar instead).
Mechanics: You only have to take this feat once, and any weapon combination you could take allows you to only need to spend feats on the Spec Tree Once, saving feats. Note that this feat will not help with Missile Weapons, but could be used in conjunction with Thrown weapons (if you have the Thrown Weapon Mastery feat). This is a somewhat more feat intensive version of the Warblade ability to change weapons for the Spec tree…but it allows more then one weapon at a time to take advantage of the tree.
============================
Weapon Versatility With minor practice, your adaptability with weapons comes forth. Pre-Req: Weapon Focus (any), +3 BAB Benefits: With an hour of practice, you can switch your melee weapon spec tree to apply to any melee weapon you are proficient with. This does not apply to Weapon Supremacy. You lose the benefits of Weapon Supremacy until you regain the spec tree for the weapon it is tied to. Note that Melee Weapon Mastery is tied to a melee damage type, not a weapon.
Mechanics: This is the Warblade ability. If you only want to have access to one Spec weapon at a time, but change it around as needed, this is the feat.
It can be expanded by removing the ‘Melee’ weapon language and making it any weapon, thus allowing a Fighter to become a good Archer if needed (and is actually reasonable if you consider a Fighter’s weapon training broader and deeper then a Warblade).
========================
Master of Weapon Styles
This approach focuses on the various approaches to combat, and focuses on mastering defeating/maximizing certain styles as opposed to specific weapons.
There are several styles of combat. The feat in parentheses is the fundamental feat associated with the style.
Two Handed Weapon (Power Attack) Two Weapon Fighting (Two Weapon Fighting) Weapon and Shield (Tower or Heavy Shield Proficiency) Unarmed Combat (Superior Unarmed Strike) Thrown weapons (Quick Draw) Polearms/Reach Weapons (Short Haft) Missile weapons (Precise shot) Natural Weapons (Improved Unarmed Strike) – Slams, claws, bites, etc. Exotic Weapons (Expertise) One Handed Weapon (Dodge)
Master of Styles I You know how to overcome the various weapon styles of others. Pre-req: Fighter/4, Weapon Focus in a martial Weapon Benefit: You gain a +2 TH and +2 AC benefit against anyone employing a fighting style whose fundamentals you are familiar with (see above feats).
Mechanics: Note, the bonuses for two people with the same feat and styles cancels out. It also encourages the taking of a broad range of feats to gain maximum benefit from the feat…and is a nice secondary benefit for choosing to take more diverse feats!
Master of Styles II – Mastery of Weapon Type You maximize the usage of your chosen weapon. Pre-Req: Melee Weapon Mastery (any/all), Greater Weapon Focus in a manufactured Weapon, Versatile Unarmed Strike Benefit: You are able to extend the type of damage your Focused weapon does to one extra type at a time (for instance, a slashing sword becomes S/P or S/B). You may change this combination of damages as an immediate action on your turn.
If your opponent does not have the Weapon Mastery for the extra type of damage, that Weapon Mastery type stacks with the primary Weapon Mastery you have for purposes of dealing damage. You may set this feat to reactively counteract another Style Master’s bonuses.
If you have Combat Reflexes, any opponent attacking you with a Natural Weapon without benefit of Reach on you provokes an AoO.
Mechanics: Turns all weapons into Claw attacks (all damage types available) and encourages taking multiple Melee Weapon Masteries for the stacking benefit.
This effect burns several higher level feats, but is a very viable way to diversify a Fighter as an alternative to shooting up the spec tree…or for feats to take in the meantime.
Master of Styles III – Mastery of Weapon Style You are a true master in using your preferred Weapon’s Style. Req: Master of Styles I; Weapon Specialization; appropriate Style feat; BAB +8 Benefit: When wielding a weapon in your Preferred Weapon’s Style, you gain a +2 TH/Dmg. This feat counts as Melee Weapon Mastery for all Pre-Reqs. Its benefits do not stack with Melee Weapon Mastery.
Mastery of Styles IV – Master of Weapon Group You wield weapons similar to your preferred one with ease and skill. Req: Weapon Spec, BAB +8 Benefit: Another Melee Weapon Mastery variant, this one is instead tied to Weapon Groups (Axe weapons, large swords, polearms, light blades, monk weapons, etc). It should be considered the same as Melee Weapon Mastery, and not stack.
==============================
Master of Many Feats
This simple build is just assigning the Fighter a feat every level, and then comparing the abilities available to various classes at certain levels as feat equivalents.
Now that straight comparison is available, you should have little problem picking up a broad range of needed talents as long as associated pre-reqs are available. In other words, the Fighter becomes the ultimate master of martial skills, because he can master the martial skills of all other classes.
This will also eliminate the need for many martial PrCs. Simply institute the appropriate abilities/penalties at the required levels, and you are good to go.
=========================================== Bringing It All Together
All of these ideas can be combined to allow a Fighter maximum versatility.
Weapon Focus as a scaling feat saves the Fighter 6 feats, perhaps 8!
Weapon Master truly emphasizes the Fighter as the master of ONE weapon, using the Spec Tree.
Weapon Sympathy lets the Fighter train multiple weapons together, if you don’t want to allow Weapon Focus for all weapons.
Weapon Versatility allows the Fighter to customize his weapon for an encounter.
Mastery of Styles rewards a Fighter for having a broader range of combat knowledge then any other character can possibly develop...in other words, leveraging multiple feats into something of value beyond their own language.
Mastery of Weapon Style/Weapon Group provides alternatives for Weapon Mastery.
Mastery of Weapon Style II allows one weapon that the character has focused on to have more exceptional benefits at lower level, at a feat cost only the Fighter can typically afford, building on Melee Weapon Mastery, and with its effectiveness against Natural Weapons (including UA) firmly sets Weapons down as the way to go.
Many Feats is mainly an observation that if the Fighter had a feat every level, sooo many PrCs and balance questions would just resolve themselves and could be disposed of for a return to newer, stranger feat trees.
Comments welcome!
==Aelryinth
Fighter vs Warblade analysis http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19573526/Analyzing_the_Fighter_vs_The_Warblade
The Lockdown F/20 iconic build http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19856162/A_little_Lock_build_for_you
Wonderful comparison between the fighter and the warblade, first off. I tip my hat in your general direction! Now, I've also been thinking about enhancing the fighter's capability, although in a slightly different way than you have proposed. I was basically thinking of giving them special abilities at each odd level, with which they can gain special abilities, depending on the feats that they have chosen. And I'm not talking '+1 to attack rolls with that weapon', I'm talking abilities like 'the penalty for consecutive attacks in a full attack is decreased by 1'. Stuff like that. You've given me an incentive to do just that, so if you want, I'll drop you a note when I finish it.
You sir, are awesome. I've said, hundreds of times "you could give a fighter a feat at every level and he still wouldnt be as good at any Tome of Battle Class."
, total , freakin , bravo 
