Editing Fighter (section)

==Pathfinder==
===1st Edition===
[[Image:Valeros.jpg|thumb|left|320px|Valeros, iconic fighter from Pathfinder.]]
Fighters are generally a little beefier and a lot better in [[Pathfinder]], with more unique passive benefits other people don't have, while keeping their big pile of feats, and fewer classes that can be described as "like a Fighter but better."  They don't have the raw power of the spellcasting classes, but they're now actually good at their job, namely, killing tons of dudes while shrugging off damage, while many martial and exotic weapons, particularly archery, are more attractive options.  The archetype system also helps them a lot, sacrificing much of their versatility in terms of weapon use to make them even deadlier or tougher with a single combat style.  (Two-handed weapon, sword-and-board, unarmed combat, etc.)  

Unfortunately, with a pitiful dribble of skill points and limited skill selection anyway, they don't tend to be much use once things are actually being done out of combat, barring pure roleplaying or trait-use to gain one good skill. In-fact, Fighter is the '''only''' player class in the game to have 2+int skill points per level and no casting ability. A lot of the time, if no fighting's going on, the fighter's player may as well just go off to use the restroom or crack open a soda for all the use he'll be.  One way around this is to take the Tactician archetype, which gives them a lot more skill points and class skills, offers great bonuses and buffing capacity for having high mental stats, and barely reduces their combat effectiveness in the bargain.  The only real price is a little bit of [[MAD]] trouble, but if you rolled well on your scores and want to make a character who can kick ass and still be the charismatic and intelligent party leader, consider it.

They also suffer from some of the core problems of 3.X, like movement beyond 5 ft. steps and full attacking being mutually exclusive and iterative attacks suffering increasingly hefty penalties, but a lot of the cheesier tricks they used to be able to use to get around them are either gone or now exclusive to other classes.

There are also two particular books (''Armor Master's Handbook'' and ''Weapon Master's Handbook'') which mitigate a degree to which the fighter can actually contribute both in and out of combat. By sacrificing one level of Weapon or Armor training after the first, they can instead gain special training options. Among the notable ones are Versatile Training (BAB=skill ranks for two skills as designated by weapon group), Armored Juggernaut (Damage Resistance when wearing armor), Warrior Spirit (gain the power to add a temporary magical bonus to a weapon), and Fighter's Reflexes (Add weapon training to Reflex). Though practically all the archetypes trade these off one way or another, it's an incentive for those who don't or those who find that they need something more than +1 on a weapon.

Another avenue of approach is the combination of the Lore Warden and Martial Master archetypes. The Lore Warden trades in medium and heavy armor and armor training in favor of better ability to trip, grapple, sunder, disarm, and perform other combat maneuvers, a +2 bonus to attack and damage after making a successful knowledge check, an extra two skill points, all knowledge skills, the ability to negate critical hits, and the ability to automatically confirm a critical hit on a knowledge check. It does a good job of making the Fighter have more skills and variety in combat. However, combining it with the Martial Master allows you to flexibly pick up combat feats as you need them, like a [[Brawler]]. that means you aren't locked into a single static configuration, and can change up how you fight on an encounter-by-encounter basis. Invisible enemy? Take blind-fight! Flying enemy? Grab ranged feats! DM gives you an exotic weapon that you need to kill a boss with? EWP. It makes up for the fighter's weakness in being able to kill dudes quickly but only in one specific way.

{{Pathfinder-1st-Edition-Classes}}

===2nd Edition===
[[Image:Valeros2e.jpg|thumb|right|320px|Valeros, iconic fighter from Pathfinder Second Edition. Yeah, he has a shield now.]]

To give Fighters something to do, they got exclusive access to Attacks of Opportunity before 6th level (and even then, only Barbarians, [[Magus|Magi]] and [[Paladin|Champions]] get it, and need to spend a class feat on it). Other than that, they remain the exact same opposite of the [[Skill monkey]] they are in any other D&D (Class feats are almost entirely combat utility, and almost no non-combat utility), although skill advancement is at the same rate as any other non-Rogue. Athletics and Intimidate remain your best skills, especially with the overhaul on how Combat Maneuvers work, while Crafting is critical for maintaining equipment regardless of focus (especially since shields can be damaged quite easily now). Dex fighters can get a lot out of Acrobatics, Stealth and Thievery. In combat, the only real weak spot they have is crossbows, as those weapons require multiple actions to reload and only the [[Ranger]] and [[Gunslinger]] can access the feats needed to facilitate on that front without dipping into an archetype.

More than any other class, the Fighter is the least bound by any class features, whereas other classes are forced to specialize in a specific part of their niche. While they have weapon mastery to grant better proficiency for one weapon group as well as access to crit effects, their impact boils down to slightly bigger numbers in combat for the most part. This makes Fighters incredibly open to archetyping since they lose so little from it. In addition, fighters have the ability to take temporary feats, as the [[Brawler]] did before. This was buffed because, instead of it being usable 3 + half Brawler level times per day for a few minutes, now Fighters can pick a Fighter class feat they don't have, picking at half their level.

What makes Fighters shine is having both the best attack bonus progression and having a bunch of combat feats that allows them to cheat the action economy, though it is not unique to them (Barbarian and Ranger both get various similiar feats). However, by having an attack bonus that is superior any other class, they are more likely to critically hit than any other class (barring the [[Gunslinger]]). Besides the usual double damage, fighters of level 5 or higher apply various penalties depending on the weapon they are using. From making them flat-footed, bleed or prone, a fighter in melee can bully a foe into submission with combat maneuvers or by simply being so good in hitting them. All this arguably makes the fighter the best martial class in the game, because being able to critically hit more than any other class pretty much outshines most other features other classes can offer.

{{Pathfinder-2nd-Edition-Classes}}
{{Pathfinder-2nd-Edition-Archetypes}}