The Fighter

Ah yes, the ultimate classic, the fighter class. An extremely versatile and fun class for anyone, both beginners and veterans alike to toy with. Herein be contained five fighter builds that you may enjoy to your fill.

There are two mentalities when it comes to building a fighter. Be a specialist or be a generalist. One focus on a specific weapon or set of weapons, at the risk of losing most of their abilities if somehow their weapons get removed in exchange for much higher combat capabilities with their weapons of choices, the other leaves their options open, refusing to focus one way or another, with a lower damage output than others, but being more flexible and adaptable to the situation.

The Base Fighter

This build is centered around the second mentality, which is a generalist, which normally has a somewhat lower combat capability as a specialist. We shall prove them wrong with this build.

Class

Fighter 20

Race

Human, the floating +2 will depend on your point-buy

Ability Scores

15Point-Buy

Str 16/Dex 15/Con 10/Int 13/Wis 10/Cha 9

Your +2 went in Dexterity, you want to put another 2 in there through levels and the rest goes into Strength

20Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 15/Con 10/Int 13/Wis 10/Cha 10

Your +2 went into Str, and you want to put at least a +2 to Dex through levels, and the rest in Strength

25Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 17/Con 10/Int 13/Wis 10/Cha 9

Your +2 went into Str, all your increases should go in Strength

Traits

Defender of the Society gives you a +1 Trait bonus to AC while wearing armor which is just great, Adopted lets you take Tusked for a Bite Attack.

Favored Class Bonus

As we have only a 10 in Constitution, we will be putting those in HP.

Skills

Acrobatics, Perception will be our usual suspects, Survival and Knowledge(Engineering) are good supplements that add an additional fairly uncommon knowledge to the party, and Survival is great in case of no ranger/druid in the party. At least one rank in Ride will also be good at some point.

Feats by Level

1-Quick Draw

Equipment Trick(Heavy Weapons Scabbard) Human Bonus-Two Weapons Fighting

Point-Blank Shot

3-Combat Expertise

4-Precise Shot

5-Improved Dirty Trick

6-Rapid Shot

7-Power Attack

8-Manyshot

Deadly Aim

Improved Steal

Improved Shield Bash

12-Throw Anything

Catch-Off Guard

Improved Unarmed Strike

15-Improved Trip

16-Improved Grapple

17-Improved Bull Rush

18-Combat Reflexes

19-Oversized Two Weapons Fighting

20-Improved Initiative

You are great at all the main Combat Maneuvers, including Grapple, Trip, Dirty Tricks, Bull Rush and Steal, you can support excellently at range with a bow, can fight unarmed or with improvised weapons and with Equipment Trick(Heavy Weapon Scabbard), if you start the game with a Combat Scabbard and a Throwing Shield, you can get all the way up to 5 attacks in one round(yes, this is, in fact, at level one). Plus your damage is not bad at all via Power Attack and Deadly Aim. And by being good with two weapons fighting and having Rapid Shot, you incidentally become a fairly good thrower too.

Essentially, you can do pretty much all combat styles more than just decently, and are an extremely versatile combatant.

Weapon Training by Level

5-Heavy Blades

9-Bow

13-Close

17-Thrown

Additional bonuses to attack, damage and maneuvers with a wide variety of weaponry, including unarmed strikes. Heavy Blades get a final +4, Bows a +3, Close a +2 and Thrown a +1. And do not let naysayers dissuade you here, a mere +1 can and will make a difference in the long term.

Equipment

You want a Throwing Shield, a Combat Scabbard, a Longsword, a Bow and the best armor you can get in the circumstances. If you can get yourself a few throwing weapons in addition to it, excellent.

We are aiming at getting full plate armor at some point.

Final Thoughts on the Build

A Throwing Shield can be tossed as a free action, and with Equipment Trick, a Combat Scabbard can be also thrown as a Swift Action. You have Two-Weapons Fighting at level one with your shield and longsword, and you can mix iterative attacks with natural attacks(tusked).

Start the round, throw your scabbard, take a five foot step, attack with sword and shield, then bite, and finally throw your shield as a free action. Bam. 5 attacks at lvl 1. We have 20 levels to go and it just keep getting better and better, and we are doing great with a wide variety of styles, both in close quarters, melee, throwing, point blank and even long ranged combat.

And we still manage to deal enough damage to stay a target, while having a fairly high AC and with incredible maneuvers options that can turn a combat over it’s head rapidly. Have fun!

Hellknight Lancer

So, we saw an example of a generalist fighter build, what about a specialist build?

Well, fret not, I have plenty of those in my backpocket too. Like this one, a build relying on polearms and great armor to be an absolute melee monstrosity.

We will take the Polearm Master Archetype and the Hellknight Prestige Class. Our leveling should look like the following:

Class

Fighter 5/Hellknight 10/Fighter +5

Race

Human again, our floating will go directly into Strength.

Ability Scores

15Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 14/Con 10/Int 8/Wis 10/Cha 12 Put everything into Strength

20Point-Buy

Str 19/Dex 14/Con 12/Int 8/Wis 10/Cha 12 Everything in Strength once again

25Point-Buy

Str 20/Dex 14/Con 13/Int 8/Wis 10/Cha 12

Round up Constitution, then everything in Strength.

Traits

Defender of the Society will help improve our AC, Rich Parents will give us a massive starting equipment boost.

Favored Class Bonus

HP it is!

Skills

We will max Intimidate, and we need two ranks in Knowledge(The Planes), after that, mix and match between Perception and Acrobatics

Feats by Level

1-Power Attack
1-Weapon Focus(Glaive) Human Bonus-Dazzling Display
2-Combat Reflexes

Iron Will

Weapon Specialization(Glaive)

5-Stand Still

7-Cornugon Smash

9-Shatter Defenses

11-Lunge

13-Improved Overrun

15-Spiked Destroyer

16-Disruptive

Intimidating Prowess

Greater Weapon Focus(Glaive) 19-Improved Sunder

20-Spellbreaker

Power Attack, Cornugon Smash and Shatter Defenses coupled with Intimidating Prowess make you into a fierce intimidancer build, Combat Reflexes and Stand Still, Disruptive and Spellbreaker with your reach weapon, let you control the battlefield, even against Spellcasters (and if needed you do have Iron Will for better defenses against them).

Improved Overrun and Spiked Destroyer allow some devastating armor combo to support your polearm, of which you can even further increase the reach via Lunge.

Hellknight Disciplines by Level

8-Onslaught

11-Call Armor

14-Fearsomeness

Being able to summon your armor is great for situations where you cannot walk into with it on, a one round massive bonus to strength, and the ability to further increase your Cornugon Smash is just extra gravy on top of the various other Hellknight Abilities you get such as a Smite Chaos, Resistances and even the ability to See in the Dark, even magical one.

Equipment

A Glaive, a Spiked Gauntlet for those enemies who get into close combat(until level 3 where that becomes irrelevant), and the best armor you can purchase. Eventually we get Hellknight Armor which is the best armor in the game as is so this is amazing.

Final Thoughts on the Build

Whoo boy, we are a danger indeed with our polearm, we control a fairly large section of the battlefield with our multiple Attacks of Opportunity, we have a great AC, and even if enemies get through our reach, we have ways to still fight them up close that will make them regret that decision, and with our massive Intimidate, we can sow fear in the enemy ranks well before anyone gets within the reach of our Glaive.

The Witcher

This one is a “what if I want to play as close to possible to Geralt as possible.

Witchers use potions to increase their fighting abilities, spells and arcane knowledge along with their swords to fight both monsters and men.

We will multiclass this build, we will take the Mutation Warrior Archetype, Magus Levels, and the Eldritch Knight Prestige Class.

Our Levelling will look as such:

Class

Fighter 3/Magus 7/Eldritch Knight 6/Fighter +4

Race

As we want to stay close to Geralt, we are, once again, taking Human. Our floating will go into Strength.

Ability Scores

We will always be putting everything into Strength.

15Point-Buy

Str 17/Dex 10/Con 12/Int 16/Wis 10/Cha 7

20Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 12/Con 12/Int 16/Wis 10/Cha 7

25Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 12/Con 14/Int 16/Wis 10/Cha 8

Traits

Reactionary for extra initiative, as Witchers are reputed to have extremely good reflexes, and Cosmopolitan, granting us Linguistics, to study old tomes telling us of creatures and how to fight them, but also to make our tongue very sharp indeed.

Favored Class Bonus

Skills, Witchers are good at a variety of things and so we need more skills.

Skills

Acrobatics, Perception, Linguistics and Survival take the core of our skills, Spellcraft, Craft(Alchemy) and at least one rank in all knowledge skills along with ride will be most useful to us. Try to sprinkle Stealth too whenever you can.

Feats by Level

Skill Focus(Linguistics) 1-Power Attack

Human Bonus-Orator

Weapon Focus(Longsword)

3-Improved Initiative

5-Blind-Fight

7-Combat Reflexes

8-Arcane Strike

9-Combat Expertise

11-Improved Trip

11-Improved Critical(Longsword)

13-Weapon Specialization(Longsword)

15-Greater Weapon Focus(Longsword)

15-Disruptive

17-Spellbreaker

17-Greater Blind-Fight

19-Lightning Reflexes

19-Greater Weapon Specialization(Longsword)

We kick asses with our Longsword with the Weapon Focus feat chain, we have a +2 to Attack, +4 to Damage from it alone, and our Crit threat range is 17-20. We get Power Attack and Arcane Strike for even more damage, Improved Trip make us a dangerous and tricky opponent to fight, as a Witcher, our senses are so sharp that we can Blind-Fight, and as Geralt is a great metrosexual man, he has Orator for great social skills. As a Witcher, we are also used to fight magic, so Disruptive and Spellbreaker get us some more Witchery feel.

Mutation Warrior

3-We get the ability to use Mutagens which further increase our physical abilities far beyond what a normal human could achieve

20-We get the Spontaneous Healing benefit to our Mutagen, giving us a few rounds of Fast Healing.

Magus Arcanas by Level

6-Arcane Scent

9-Flamboyant Arcana

We can literally smell magic on others and we can use our Arcane Pool to fuel certain thematically appropriate skill checks and even parry attacks.

Spells by Level

Magus learn all their spell list’s cantrips

Mirror Strike, Mount, Obscuring Mists, True Strike, Burning Hands, Shocking Grasp

Blurred Movements, Blade Tutor’s Spirit

Bed of Iron, Abjuring Step

Alter Self, Alacrity

Bladed Dash, Bull’s Strength

Fiery Runes, Glitterdust

Haste, Displacement

Heart of the Metal, Slow

Toxic Blood, Versatile Weapon

Forceful Strike, Quieting Weapons

Stoneskin, Shout

Fire Shield, Sadomasochism

Mostly buff spells, some fiery effects, and usually things you would expect from a Witcher.

Equipment

A Chain Shirt(we will increase to a Breastplate later), two longswords. One for monsters, the other, for humans.

Final Thoughts on the Build

Between a fairly large skill pool, magic buffs and effects, the ability to cast spell while fighting with your sword, and with mutagen, yeah, you are an actual damn Witcher, capable against a variety of enemies, both monsters and humans, and while technically a longsword specialist, with your spells and social skills, you still remain well within a generalist, breaking the usual dichotomy of having to choose between the two.

In short, you get to have your cake and to eat it too.

The Sewer Knight

So, this build came to me from Redwall, Cluny the Scourge was always one of my favorite villains in fiction, and I wanted to make a less villainous version of him. Still gonna be an asshole tho.

We are going to take the Opportunist Fighter Archetype and the Low Templar Prestige Class. Our leveling should look like the following:

Class

Fighter 5/Low Templar 10/Fighter +5

Race

Ratfolk. These get some interesting feats and bonuses. We will take the Cornered Fury

Alternative Racial Feature.

Ability Scores

Put all your bonuses in Dex

15Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 16/Con 14/Int 16/Wis 10/Cha 8

20Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 18/Con 14/Int 16/Wis 10/Cha 8

25Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 18/Con 16/Int 16 Wis 10/Cha 8

Traits

Adopted for Tusked, Armor Expert to reduce Armor Penalty.

Favored Class Bonus

Skills, actually. We have a decent Constitution so we can focus elsewhere.

Skills

So, we need at least 5 ranks in Bluff and Ride, and 2 ranks in Knowledge(Nobility or Planes). Pick your poison.

We put everything else into Craft(Alchemy), Acrobatics, Perception, Use Magic Devices, Stealth and Sleight of Hands.

Feats by Level

1-Sharpclaw

1-Improved Dirty Trick

2-Weapon Finesse

Mounted Combat

Replaced by Poison Use

Weapon Focus(Spiked Armor)

7-Piranha Strike

9-Multiattack

11-Quick Draw

13-Throw Anything

15-Point-Blank Shot

16-Precise Shot

Rapid Shot

Replaced by Fast Stealth

Two Weapons Fighting

Improved Two Weapons Fighting

This build is a switch-hitter, capable both in melee and at ranged.

Except we are far from the traditional switch hitter as our melee is a mix of natural attacks, two of them obtained via Sharpclaw amplified via Multiattack and Spiked Armor, both melee methods using Weapon Finesse, Piranha Strike, combining our natural attacks with our iterative attacks land us easily at ten attacks per round. As for our Ranged? We are throwing alchemical weapons such as Acid flasks and Alchemist’a Fire, using Rapid Shot and

Two-Weapons Fighting in combination with Throw Anything to throw up to 7 of those per turn. Two Weapons Fighting also augment our melee attacks as we can use a Spiked Gauntlet in combination with Spiked Armor without hampering our claw attacks.

Low Templar

So what does taking Low Templar gives us?

Mobility and Sneak Attack largely, as we can eventually take the Withdraw action as a move action. We also get to ignore a part of our alignment for the purpose of stuff, including spells and magic items, allowing us to don say a Demonic Plate Armor. Oh, we also get a Outsider Cohort?

Go around with your Succubus girlfriend as a ratfolk to impress the bard ifg?

Equipment

We need the best armor we can get with spikes on it, and a Tailblade, which allows us to make a tail natural attack each round.

Final Thoughts on the build.

We get 10 attacks per round. And we get to throw 2d6 sneak attacks on each of them. Or throw alchemical items to quite literally make the life of everyone a pain in the ass. Also, we look metal as so we get a succubus groupie from the land of Metal that is hitting on us because of how metal we look.

I am weirdly okay with this build.

The Reaper

This build was a build I wanted to play for a while for a fighter in Pathfinder. A Scythe wielding fighter that deals downright stupid amounts of damage. We will go Fighter 1-20 and will take the Two-Handed Fighter Archetype. Prepare for brutal numbers.

Class

Fighter 20

Race

We are taking Orc as we want that +4 in Strength. We will also be taking Dayrunner as Light Sensitivity.

Ability Scores

Just put everything into Strength.

15Point-Buy

Str 22/Dex 10/Con 10/Int 6/Wis 10/Cha 6

20Point-Buy

Str 22/Dex 10/Con 12/Int 6/Wis 12/Cha 6

25Point-Buy

Str 22/Dex 10/Con 14/Int 6/Wis 12/Cha 8

Traits

Reactionary for bonus to Initiative, Unnatural Presence to Intimidate Vermin and Animals.

Favored Class Bonus

Skill as we would gain no skill points otherwise.

Skill

Intimidate. That’s it. This is your sole skill. Deal with it.

Feats

1-Power Attack

Intimidating Prowess

Weapon Focus(Scythe)

3-Dazzling Display

4-Weapon Specialization(Scythe)

5-Skill Focus(Intimidate)

6-Cornugon Smash

7-Shatter Defenses

Greater Weapon Focus(Scythe)

Improved Critical(Scythe) 10-Disruptive

Toughness

Greater Weapon Specialization(Scythe) 13-Penetrating Strike

14-Deadly Stroke

15-Critical Focus

16-Greater Penetrating Strike

17-Staggering Critical

18-Stunning Critical

19-Tiring Critical

20-Exhausting Critical

Since we will always be using Power Attack, this means Cornugon Smash, Shatter Defenses every single attack and between Intimidating Prowess and Skill Focus, despite our abysmal Charisma we are Intimidating for days. With the Weapon Focus feat line, we get +2 Atk/+4 Damage, and our Scythe now has a crit range of 19-20/x4.

Penetrating Strike let us downright ignore DR.

Finally, we get various Critical feats that make our Critical Hits exceedingly deadlier (and we are already quadrupling our damage on a critical, which admittedly is only on a 19-20).

Equipment

A Scythe and the best armor you can get.

Final Thoughts on the Build

Two-Handed Fighter let us get get double our Strength bonus on damage with two handed weapons, and double instead of 1.5 Power Attack. With Weapon Training with our Scythe, a Str at lvl 20 of 27, without magic item, we are looking at an attack routine like the following:

+23/+18/+13/+8 2d4+48. All that is before any buff or magic item.

Now, thats all good and all, but combining the Two-Handed Fighter’s Devastating Attack feature lets us take a -5 to attacks to autocrit on each attacks that lands.

Remember how our Crit is x4 and all those juicy Critical Feats? Oh, I am not done yet. Weapon Mastery at lvl 20 add +1 to that crit modifier and we auto confirm our crits. So now we crit x5. So now each attack deals 10d4+240 damage. Again. Before magic items. Have fun with this 😈