A melee fighter can deal with a couple the melee monsters, and a ranged fighter can deal with the manticores and other flying monsters, so if the fighter had twice the number of feats he should be able to be a threat to both.
It isn't just the feats though, its the Equipment, MAD, and Character Levels. Not every Fighter is going to be able to afford a pair of +10 weapons, and not every Fighter is going to have the money for Tomes to boost his Str and Dex. MAD heavily restricts what roles a melee combatant can do. If there were a feat that let him use Str on attack rolls with Bows, he'd be a lot better off but he'd still be lacking in the class features department.
In other words, resource management. He doesn't have the levels required to take dips into the vital archery PrCs and dip into his required melee PrCs. He doesn't have the ability scores to qualify for feats when he needs them. He doesn't have the cash needed to boost his stats or bolster his combat options when he needs them.
Edit: And he simply does not have the ability to deal with multiple threats (very few noncasters can deal with both Flying melee enemies and nonflying ranged enemies).
Lets take my super fighter
Lets go at 20th level for simplicities sake, because I haven't broken down how my fighter gets his feats. I won't say it can handle every thing, but it can handle a lot.
[Spoiler]
25 point buy, With 28 points put one in Intelligence, Wisdom, Con, 32 put 3 points into strength and one into dex.
Human
Str 13 Up at 4,16,20
Dex 13
Con 13 Up at 12 and 8
Int 13
Wis 13
Chr 8
Base Feats 1 Education, 3 Knowledge Devotion, 6 Boomerang Daze, 9 Fiendish/Fey Legacy, 12 Open Chakra:Shoulders
Fighter Feats- Not in any order 1 Blink Shirt, 4 Bind Vestige chain, 5 Phase Cloak, 6 Fiendish/Fey Heritage, 7 Animal Devotion, This should take care of utility //8 Combat Reflexes, 9 Blind Fight, 13 Combat Focus, Combat Vigor, Combat Stability, Combat Awareness, 14 Robilars Gambit, 15 Brutal Throw, 16 Power Attack, 17 Power Throw, 18 EWP:Boomerang, 23 Point Blank Shot, Far Shot, Rapid Shot, Many Shot, Greater Rapid Shot, 24 Improved Initiative, 25 Greater Toughness, 28 Resolute, Armor of God, Overwhelming Attack, 30 IHS&WRT, 34 more Animal Devotions.
5 bonus feats remaining, 2 level based feats.(Mageslayer line considered, Shape Soulmeld :Theft Gloves and Least Open Chakra:Hands with a higher point buy, Ancesteral Relic, and Craft Arms and Armor[Fey/Fiendish Legacy gives a caster level] if he has to make his own equipment, maybe Tallness or long arms)
Fighter Abilties- I gave the Fighter the Weapon Focus line with all weapons
Skill Trick: The knowledge one
760K Gold
Stat Boosters Str/Dex/Wis/Con 144k
Vest 25k
+1 Aptitude Splitting Force (Is this +2 or 3?) Bow 98k or 128k
+1 Aptitude Guisarme 8k
+5 Armor/ring/Amulet 125k
Boots of Speedx2 24k
306k remaining
So I got Flight, Melee, Anti-battlefield controlness, ranged combat effectiveness, can get across a canyon, Detect HP totals, Scout, see invisibility, or breath water, Force a DC 76+4xPA save vs Daze on a full attack, a 43+2xPA on a normal melee attack, saves are decent, can identify monsters, etheralness,
This is what I think its missing outside of magical equipment Spot/Listen/Search/Hide/Move Silently, Ability to deal with Swarms, healing, traps and it is insufficient at dealing with incorporeals.
Other than Swarms those are opportunity costs, ie another Super Fighter could do those things.
Melee- 2d4+28(15 strength, 6 spec-line, 5 knowledge devotion+2 weapon)x2 or 6
OR 4d4+56 x2
Attack bonus 42 (20 base+ 10 strength+1 weapon+4 spec-line+2 weapon+5 knowledge+1 haste)
+43/43/43/43/=43/+28, Or =53/+47
Saves F 22 R 21 W 21 or 31 Pretty good, About 80% chance of passing most things.
Skills: The 6 that pertain to knowledge devotion
[/Spoiler]
Any way, the point is that feats are capable class features.
ians Wrong
lans Right
Lans Also Right
Ians Wrong
