The fighter is the master of martial combat. He uses his training and talents to overcome obstacles. His mastery of weapons and armor are unparalleled. Fighters often form the core of any military or martial force. A fighter is a master of tactical battlefield situations. A fighter maintains a good skill base of all the various combat options. In addition, he is also able to further specialize in more than one of these options, while maintaining enough versatility to truly be a one-of-a-kind fighting man.
Where the barbarian focuses on offense, and the knight focuses on defense, the fighter relies on his knowledge of arms and tactics to prevail. He is able to pick up more than one aspect of combat without diluting whatever focus he might have chosen.

Characteristics: With their martial background and bonus feats, the fighter is best with a weapon in hand. They often have the capacity to specialize in one aspect of combat, while still improving many other aspects. Their diversity of skills allows a fighter to fill many different roles, depending upon the choices made at character creation.

Role: The fighter will play to his strengths. A big strong fighter will use his strength to overcome obstacles. A small fighter will tend to use tactics that compliment his size and reduced strength. Fighters often play many different roles within a party, but their armor use and good hit die lend themselves to melee attack and defense.

Game Rule Information 

Fighters have the following game statistics.

Abilities: Strength and Constitution are very important to fighters, who are often at the front lines in any confrontation. Dexterity can be important to fighters who don’t rely on heavy armor. Several feat chains rely on having a good Intelligence score.

Hit Die: d6+4 (d10)
Starting Gold: 5d4x10

lvl      BAB      F        R      W      Class Abilities
1        +1    +2      +1    +1    Weapons Training, Height of Battle
2        +2    +3      +1    +1    Bonus Feat, True Threat
3        +3    +3      +2    +2    Instant Reaction  
4        +4    +4      +2    +2    Bonus Feat
5        +5    +4      +2    +2    Tactical Training
6        +6    +5      +3    +3    Bonus Feat
7        +7    +5      +3    +3    Grin and Bear It, Active Assault
8        +8    +6      +4    +4    Bonus Feat
9        +9    +6      +4    +4    Foil Action (+5 ft.)
10    +10    +7      +5    +5    Bonus Feat
11    +11    +7      +5    +5    Lunging Attacks
12    +12    +8      +6    +6    Bonus Feat
13    +13    +8      +6    +6    Array of Stunts
14    +14    +9      +6    +6    Bonus Feat
15    +15    +9      +7    +7    Improved Height of Battle
16    +16    +10    +7    +7    Bonus Feat
17    +17    +10    +7    +7    Improved Active Assault
18    +18    +11    +8    +8    Bonus Feat
19    +19    +11    +8    +8    Intense Focus, Greater Height of Battle
20    +20    +12    +9    +9    Bonus Feat
Class Skills: The fighter’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (dungeoneering, geography and cultures, history, local, nobility and royalty)(Int), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex). See Player’s Handbook Chapter 4: Skills for skill descriptions.
Skill Points per Level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features
All the following are class features of the fighter.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Fighters have proficiency with Basic Weapons Group and four other weapon groups of their choice. They are proficient with all armor and all shields.

Weapons Training (ex): Fighters train obsessively with armor and weapons of all kinds, and learning to use a new weapon is easy and fun. By practicing with a weapon he is proficient with for 30 minutes, he can switch any feats specific to a single weapon group to a different weapon group he has for 24 hours. For example, Barkhan the Bold has weapon focus (axes group) and weapon expertise (axes group). He could practice with a warhammer for 30 minutes and switch those two feats to weapon focus (hammers group) and weapon expertise (hammers group) respectively, for the next 24 hours.

Height of Battle (ex): A fighter is at his best when the chaos of battle is swirling around him. If the fighter is in a stressful and/or dangerous enough situation that he would normally be unable to “take 10” on skill checks, he may spend a Swift Action to gain Height of Battle. At 1st level fighter may select one of the following options: Bull Rush, Disarm, Feint, Grapple, Sunder or Trip. Due to his extensive study of the chosen fighting option, the fighter gains a +2 competence bonus any time he makes a d20 roll associated with that option.

At level 5, and every 5 levels thereafter, (10th, 15th, and 20th) the fighter may select an additional option from the given list. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus of any one chosen option (including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by 2.

The fighter's Height of Battle lasts a number of rounds equal to the fighter's class level +3. The fighter may expend his Height of Battle as an immediate action to increase the bonus received to all chosen options by +1 per class level for 1 full round. Once his Height of Battle ends for any reason, he may not gain his Height of Battle again for a number of rounds given on Table HoB-1

Table HoB-1: Height of Battle Reset Times
Levels 1 thru 4 : 5 rounds
Levels 5 thru 9 : 4 rounds
Levels 10 thru 14 : 3 rounds
Levels 15 thru 19 : 2 rounds
Levels 20 and up : 1 round

For example, Barkhan the Bold chooses Bull Rush at 1st level. While in his Height of Battle, Barkhan gains a +2 bonus to any Bull Rush checks he makes. When he reaches 5th level, Barkhan chooses Disarm as his second Height of Battle ability, which is gained at a +2 bonus. He may choose to increase either Bull Rush or Disarm to +4 (he chooses disarm). At 10th level, he chooses Grapple, and chooses to make grapple +4. In total, Barkhan now has a +2 bonus when making any Bull Rush checks and a +4 bonus when making any Disarm or Grapple checks. As a 10th level fighter, he may choose to end his Height of Battle as an immediate action to gain a +12 to any Bull Rush checks and a +14 to any Disarm or Grapple checks for 1 full round.

Bonus Feats: At every even level a fighter gains a bonus feat. The feat chosen must be from the list of [Combat] feats.

True Threat (ex): Starting at 2nd level, fighters can make themselves seem big and bad while in their Height of Battle. The first time a fighter strikes an opponent each round while in his Height of Battle, he may make a demoralize opponent intimidate check as a swift action. This works with any melee attack, or any ranged attack up 25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels. He may expend his height of battle to demoralize opponent to a number of opponents equal to his class level (within 25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels), even if he doesn't strike them.

Instant Reaction (ex): 3rd level fighters are always wary of trouble brewing. If a fighter is not surprised (may act on a surprise round) and chooses to enter his Height of Battle, he may take a move action and a standard action. He may expend his Height of Battle to take a full-round action in the surprise round.

Tactical Training: At 5th level, when a fighter that is in his Height of Battle uses an immediate action, it no longer uses his swift action during his next turn. He is still limited to using a single immediate action each round.

Grin and Bear It (ex): When a 7th level fighter enters his Height of Battle, he can choose to gain a +2 competence bonus to either his Ref or his Will save. Once chosen, this cannot be changed until he re-enters Height of Battle. He may choose to end his Height of Battle as an immediate action to gain a bonus to one save equal to his class level. He may choose to do this after learning the result of the save, possibly changing a failed save into a successful save.

Active Assault (ex): A 7th level Fighter can flawlessly place himself where he is most needed in combat. As an immediate action, he may take a 5-foot step. This is in addition to any other movement he takes during his turn, even another 5-foot step. If he is in his Height of Battle, he may instead choose to end his Height of Battle as an immediate action to move equal to his base speed.

Foil Action (ex): At 9th level, when a fighter is within his melee reach of his opponent, as an immediate action he may attempt to Foil an action that opponent is taking. He must succeed at a touch attack. If he succeeds, the fighter and the target makes opposed level checks (creatures without a level use their Challenge Rating (CR)). If the opponent fails this level check, the opponent’s action is wasted, any spells, special ability uses, item charges, or single-use items are lost.

A fighter may foil the following actions:
All precision damage dice (sneak attack, swashbuckler’s guile, etc.) that one weapon wielded by that opponent would normally be entitled to.
A move action that began in the fighter’s melee reach: if the creature has other actions remaining, such as a standard action, he may still use that to move.
A spell being cast: the spell slot is still lost, as are any components used.
Use of a spell-like ability: uses per day are expended.
Some uses of supernatural abilities: DM discretion advised.
A single attack roll: he can only foil a single roll that is part of a full attack, not the entire full attack.
Activation of a magic item: charges are used and single-use items are expended.

If an opponent’s action is successfully foiled, he is immune to any other foil attempts until the beginning of the fighter’s next turn.

Lunging Attacks (ex): The battlefield is an extremely dangerous place, and 11th level Fighters are expected to hold off Elder Elementals, Hezrous, and Hamatulas. While in his Height of Battle, a fighter of this level may add 5 feet to the reach of any of his weapons.

Array of Stunts (ex): While in his Height of Battle, a 13th level Fighter may take one extra Immediate Action between his turns without sacrificing a Swift action during his next turn.

Improved Height of Battle (ex): At 15th level, a Fighter may expend his Height of Battle as a swift action to suppress any one status effect or ongoing spell effect on himself for his Base Attack Bonus in rounds.

Improved Active Assault (ex): At 17th level, a fighter’s Active Assault increases to a 10 ft. step and he may end his Height of Battle to take move equal to twice is base speed.

Intense Focus (ex): While in his Height of Battle, a 19th level Fighter may take an extra Swift Action each round (in addition to the extra Immediate Action he can take from Array of Stunts).

Greater Height of Battle (ex): A 19th level Fighter may expend his Height of Battle as an immediate action to attempt to dispel any single status effect or ongoing spell effect on himself. He makes a special level check (d20 + class level) against the caster level of the spell he is attempting to dispel. A spell that resists being dispelled cannot be retried using this ability for 24 hours.