Brawn and Steel: A Guide to the Fighter

Ah, the fighter. Is there anything more classic in RPGs? The answer is wizards, since according to what I can track down of the myths and legends those were the two options that existed when Dave Arneson demoed Blackmoor for Gary Gygax and their assorted friends and created history. But enough about nerdy trivia; you’ve come here because you want to do the exact opposite of nerdy trivia, which is hitting things so hard they fall over and die. The fighter has a unique niche in Pathfinder’s second edition in that it has no niche. Fighters are good at combat. That’s it, that’s the class. You have the best to-hit bonus by a landslide, you have a suite of options for different combat roles, you have no subclass locking you into a path or incentivizing certain builds so you can really kind of do whatever you want. You don’t have the flexibility of a caster or the non-combat oriented options of an alchemist or a ranger, but that’s okay. You didn’t pick fighter to do any of those things, you picked fighter to stab. So let’s discuss stabbing, shall we?

Ratings Guide

We’ll be using a star rating system instead of colors, partly for the colorblind folks at home and partly because you don’t realize what a pain color coding every single rated option is until you’ve written a guide yourself.

Five Star (*****) Always a good choice, no matter what your build is. The rarest of ratings, these should be your go-to options when you don’t have anything else you need.

Four Star (****) Awesome, but not necessarily for everybody. A four star option is ironically usually going to be higher priority than a five star, because they tend to be core towards specific builds. Pick these up when they match the build you’re going for.

Three Star (***) Pretty decent. If something’s three stars, it generally means it’s not a bad choice, but not quite as impressive as four stars. They’ll be the lower priority choices, things you pick to fill out your feats once you have your core and any five stars you want.

Two Star (**) Aggressively mediocre. Two star options will be things that are just not particularly good, don’t serve much of a purpose, or are weaker than something you can get elsewhere. The difference between this and one star is that it there are still uses for it, and it won’t be a special waste to take.

One Star (*) Flaming garbage. These are trash choices, legitimately do not waste your time with them ever.

Ability Scores

As a fighter, you have three very simple jobs you are required to do: kill things, don’t die, and don’t get mind controlled to kill the party. You can also take on other jobs and roles for yourself through your skill choices, but we’re going to start with a basis of those three things. Accordingly, your ability scores should be prioritized about like so.

Strength (****): Strength is the simplest way that you kill things. Pick up a big weapon, swing it, do massive damage. Even if you’re going Dexterity based you should till probably have a few points here.

Dexterity (****): The other option for your primary stat. Dexterity gives you less damage, but more flexibility in skill choice, better AC for the first few levels and a better Reflex save. If you go ranged it’s definitely your primary.

Constitution (***): Exists in this weird quasi-state where it does nothing for you but HP and Fort saves, but you still kinda need it. This should be a secondary stat with a starting 14.

Intelligence (**): You get a decent amount of starting skills trained, so unless you want more or want to prioritize Intelligence skills you can leave this be.

Wisdom (***): Your other, more important secondary stat than Constitution, Wisdom fuels your Will saves, which will keep you from getting disabled or turned, and your Perception, the most commonly rolled check in the game and your primary initiative.

Charisma (**): Higher on the totem pole than Int, as while Int gives you more trained skills, Cha gives you Intimidation as a solid option. If you don’t want to demoralize, though, you can pass.

Chassis

Before we get into optional stuff, let’s discuss the stuff that isn’t optional: your fighter chassis. The basic stuff you get just from being a fighter. In theory, class archetypes will eventually come out that change this, hence why it gets ratings, but until then this is what all fighters get.

Key Ability Boost (****): Strength or Dexterity, offering you a choice between the two main attacking stats. Strength offers more damage while Dexterity applies to more skills, but your AC will be roughly the same between the two, or a little higher on Strength’s part once you get your hands on full plate.

HP (****) 10 per level is a nice, even number and the best you can ask for without being a barbarian.

Perception (****) You start out with Expert and go up to Master, which is about as good as it gets without being a ranger or a rogue.

Fortitude (****) Starting out Expert, you get Master at 9, which also upgrades your successes to crit successes.

Reflex (***) You start off as an Expert and eventually go up to Master at 15, which isn’t as good as Fort but is still pretty solid.

Will (**) You start off trained and go up to Expert pretty quickly, plus you get a soft version of Resolve, but it’s still your weakest save.

Weapons (*****) You are the Best At Weapons, with a starting Expert, a ridiculously rapid rise to Master and then Legendary for your preferred weapon group, critical specialization at 5th and weapon specialization at 7th.

Armor (***) Your armor scales at about the same rate as everyone else, and you get armor specialization which is just a bit of permanent resistance.

Skills (***) You’re starting off with 5+Int (3 plus Acrobatics or Athletics plus your background skills) which covers about a fourth of the skills list.

Attack of Opportunity (****) The removal of AoOs as a universal ability means this is gravy for you, not only because you’re the only one who can do it at base, but you’ll also be getting it off a lot more often than in 1st edition, since creatures won’t default to “don’t provoke the AoO.”

Shield Block (**) Only useful if you’re using a shield, naturally.

Bravery (***) A lot of things inflict frightened 1 or more, and frightened is a nasty debuff in the tightened math of PF2.

Combat Flexibility (****) This is effectively a single extra feat. I wouldn’t expect you to change it often, but the ability to do so is a nice cherry on top. Upgrades to two feats at 15th.

Overall: Basically, you’re very well equipped for all things combat. Will saves will be your weak spot, so consider shoring those up.

Ancestries

We’re going to have three goals with our ancestry choice. First is going to be ability scores, which should include some combination of Str, Dex, Con or Wis. For bonus points, the penalty should go into Int or Cha. Second, we want some innate survivability. This is less important for an archer, but in general we want to look for higher ancestry hp, options for resistances and save boosts, etc. Thirdly, and this might sound like a copout, solid ancestry feats. They don’t need to contribute to combat ability, since we have that in spades, but they should give us cool and interesting options. Now let’s dive in.

Dwarf

Hit Points (****): 10, the highest available. An excellent start.

Speed (**): 20 feet, which is painful. It effectively locks us into one of our feats too if we want heavy armor.

Ability Boosts/Flaws (****): Con and Wis, both of our secondary stats, allowing us to put our flex into Str or Dex. Because of the way this pans out Strength based and full plate is probably the better choice, since we won’t be able to get Dex higher than a 14 anyway, but going 16/16 is also valid. Our flaw is in Charisma, which is just delightful.

Darkvision (****) I for one would rather see in the dark than not.

Heritages

Ancient-Blooded Dwarf (***): A boost to saves is good, but fighters have plenty of options for reactions already without adding one more to the pile.

Death Warden Dwarf (****): Protection from an entire school of spells (including the primary offensive option of an evil cleric) is pretty sweet in my book.

Forge Dwarf (****) Fire resistance is always cool. I’ll see myself out.

Rock Dwarf (**) Not being forcibly moved isn’t bad, but it’s also not worth it compared to the other options.

Strong-Blooded Dwarf (****) Poisons are ubiquitous, and while your Fortitude is good, a few bad rolls against them can seriously weaken you.

Anvil Dwarf (LOCG) (**) A free skill trained and a bonus to crafting things is really nice if you’re going to be the group’s crafter and really pointless if you’re not.

Elemental Heart Dwarf (LOCG) (**) Energy Emanation isn’t a bad ability, but the once per day limitation hurts it a lot when you compare the plethora of things you can do all day for the same two actions.

Oathkeeper Dwarf (LOCG) (***) Less combat applicable than the others, but very handy if you expect a lot of social situations.

1st Level Feats

Dwarven Lore (**) A few free skills isn’t terrible, but not that amazing either.

Dwarven Weapon Familiarity (**) You’re a fighter, you already have proficiency with all of the weapons. That’s your schtick. Narrowly evades 1 star if you want to use a dwarf weapon, especially an advanced one.

Rock Runner (***) You are slow, and anything that would slow you down is your nemesis.

Stonecunning (***) A bonus to Perception is nice, but the free automatic Perception is what you’re here for.

Unburdened Iron (****) Remember what I said about being slow? Your 20 foot speed is unpleasant, but this ancestry feat means you can take heavy armor and be the same speed as everyone else, and no-sell things that would try to slow you.

Vengeful Hatred (***) The value here is incredibly dependent on your campaign. Do you expect globetrotting and facing a plethora of different kinds of enemies? Hard pass. Are you going to a land filled with exclusively undead? Then you’re probably on to something here.

Avenge In Glory (LOCG) (***) Allies going down is a thing that will happen, and popping a +1 to yourself until (effectively) the next time you get hit is a nice way to capitalize on that inevitability.

Clan’s Edge (LOCG) (**) Requires using clan daggers and multiple targets. You have better options as a two-weapon fighter.

Forge-Day’s Rest (LOCG) (**) Have you ever tried living, working or otherwise coordinating with people on a different sleep schedule from you? Now take that on the road and give yourself a logistical headache.

Surface Culture (LOCG) (**) More skill ranks, although this at least gives you scaling lore.

5th Level Feats

Boulder Roll (***) A situational combat feat, but it gives you a really nice way to maneuver and force enemies to move how you want them to.

Dwarven Weapon Cunning (*) You already get this.

Clan Protector (LOCG) (**) Pass out some static AC bonuses… or just kill the enemies with those actions. That works too.

Protective Sheath (LOCG) (***) M’kay, it took an extra feat but Clan’s Edge gets better here, and it gives a reason to want to spread your attacks around. More AC is always good.

Tomb-Watcher’s Glare (LOCG) (***) Naturally its usefulness depends on how often you fight undead, but it’s a common enemy type, inflicting debuffs is fun, and you’re the most likely person on the field to be scoring crits.

9th Level Feats

Mountain’s Stoutness (**) You’ve got plenty of hp, but a little more can’t hurt, nor can being less likely to die.

Stonewalker (***) Meld into stone is nice and all, but you’re really here for the Stonecunning upgrade.

Battleforger (LOCG) (**) The only use this really has is taken a new weapon you just picked up or a backup weapon and making it slightly stronger, and that’s not worth a feat at this level.

Energy Blessed (LOCG) (***) A massive buff to Elemental Heart, ramping up the damage scaling and area to keep up better with some of the big blast spells.

Heroes’ Call (LOCG) (****) Oh baby, 10 minutes of a +1 to all the good stuff and a solid chunk of temp hp if you wait to cast it until you’re harmed is my idea of a good time.

Kneel For No God (LOCG) (****) If you took Ancient-Blooded this is a must-have upgrade. It’s just too bad you can’t stack with death warden and mock evil clerics forever.

13th Level Feats

Dwarven Weapon Expertise (*) Yawn.

Overall: Dwarves get four stars (****) for a solid chassis and good array of feats

Elf

Hit Points (**): 6, the worst possible. Not the apocalypse, since you get plenty of class hp.

Speed (****): 30 feet is the fastest any ancestry gets at level 1, combined with some exclusive options to get even faster. Battlefield mobility matters.

Ability Boosts/Flaws (**): Dex is solid, especially if you’re going ranged, but Int is a tertiary stat, and Constitution is a terrible flaw to have no matter who or what you are. Going off ability scores alone, I wouldn’t recommend for a melee build.

Low-light Vision (***) Not as good as darkvision, not as bad as no vision at all.

Heritages

Arctic Elf (****) Resistances are always good.

Cavern Elf (***) As we’ve established, seeing in the dark, super helpful.

Seer Elf (**) Detect magic isn’t that great a cantrip, and you have other options to get cantrips, but identifying magic and such is still okay.

Whisper Elf (***) You’re naturally good at Seeking and very fast, so enhanced range on your detection ability can go a long way.

Woodland Elf (**) Situational. If you expect to spend a lot of time in forests and jungles, the climb speed is great. I have not, however, personally seen the Take Cover action used by anyone, anywhere, ever.

Ancient Elf (LOCG) (**) The specific situation you want this is where you want to multiclass as soon as possible, but also desperately want a specific 2nd level class feat. Which, like, if that’s the case, go nuts.

Desert Elf (LOCG) (****) Eyy, fire resistance.

1st Level Feats

Ancestral Longevity (***) You have a decent number of starting skills, but one more can’t hurt, and this way you can flexibly cover your party’s needs (if you anticipate them, of course.)

Elven Lore (**) Less flexible than longevity, and Arcana and Nature aren’t going to be typical fighter skills, but it does give you more skills for your buck.

Elven Weapon Familiarity (**) Want an elven curve blade? Yo. Don’t? Pass.

Forlorn (***) Your Will saves are good, but they can always be better, and emotion effects can trip you up hard.

Nimble Elf (****) As another blue thing would say, “gotta go fast.”

Otherworldly Magic (****) Free cantrips are fantastic. Pick up shield for some defense if you’re not using a real one, telekinetic projectile for a free scaling ranged option, or a utility spell for, uh, utility.

Unwavering Mien (***) Much like with forlorn, being able to shed some rounds off of mental effects is a solid pickup.

Elemental Wrath (LOCG) (**) Acid Splash is probably the worst of the damage cantrips, so unless you expect to fight a lot of enemies with fire weakness you want to splash, go for Otherworldly Magic instead.

Elven Verve (LOCG) (***) Immobilized, paralyzed and slowed are all terrible conditions you do not want to mess with.

Share Thoughts (LOCG) (*) Even if it weren’t only useable on other elves, 1/day mindlink isn’t that useful.

Wildborn Magic (LOCG) (****) Pretty much the same value as Otherworldly Magic, except with a different list. You lose the option of shield but gain guidance so I’d call it even.

Woodcraft (LOCG) (**) Usefulness scales linearly with the amount of time you spend in the woods.

5th Level Feats

Ageless Patience (****) When you have the time, you should always make use of this. It’s basically bringing back take 10.

Elven Weapon Elegance (*) Still a fighter, still don’t care.

Defiance Unto Death (LOCG) (***) Since the dawn of RPGs, every beatstick’s worst nightmare is getting dominated or feared off the front lines, and confused just straight up sucks. Being paralyzed is honestly preferable, since the only defensive penalty is being flatfooted.

Elven Instincts (LOCG) (*) You already get Battlefield Surveyor, and winning ties isn’t worth the feat.

Forest Stealth (LOCG) (**) As Woodland Elf, the usefulness scales with your time spent in trees, but also how much you like to hide.

Wildborn Adept (LOCG) (***) If you took Wildborn Magic this is a decent upgrade, but not reason enough on its own to take Wildborn Magic over Otherworldly Magic to begin with.

9th Level Feats

Elf Step (***) A generally decent repositioning tool.

Expert Longevity (***) Take your flexible skill talents to the next level.

Brightness Seeker (LOCG) (***) Glimpses of the future are great, as are floating bonuses (doubly so when the floating bonus doubles for declaring “screw destiny.”

Sense Thoughts (LOCG) (**) Share thoughts is trash enough that the prerequisite docks this a star, but otherwise free mind reading once per day is worthwhile.

13th Level Feats

Elven Weapon Expertise (*) Still a fighter.

Universal Longevity (****) “No one knows anything about Arcana? I do now!” The flexibility of this cannot be understated.

Wandering Heart (LOCG) (**) If you primarily stay in one spot or type of region this can be passed up. Otherwise, only take if you expect a lot of thematic enemies (fire guys in the desert, ice people in the snow, etc.)

Overall: Elves get three stars (***). I’d like to give them more because they have some really choice feats and speed, but that constitution penalty is just too painful for any melee build.

Gnome

Hit Points (***): 8, aka the middle one.

Speed (***): 25 feet, perfectly balanced as all things should be.

Ability Boosts/Flaws (*): Constitution is nice, but a boost to Charisma is irrelevant to the class and a penalty to Strength is, oh, what’s the word I’m looking for here, uh, terrible.

Low-light Vision (***) Not as good as darkvision, not as bad as no vision at all.

Heritages

Chameleon Gnome (**) While flavorful and fun, the mechanical benefits are mediocre.

Fey-Touched Gnome (****) A free primal cantrip is nice, especially being able to flex it. I recommend guidance or produce flame.

Sensate Gnome (****) Have you ever wanted to invalidate an enemy’s attempts to stealth around you? Well now you can. Fits really well as the fighter too.

Umbral Gnome (***) Darkvision good.

Wellspring Gnome (****) Oh look, the other three traditions. Shield, guidance, or an attack cantrip will do you just fine.

Vivacious Gnome (LOCG) (****) Negative energy resistance is a rarer one, and while doomed is rare, you also, uh, don’t want it. Ever.

1st Level Feats

Animal Accomplice (**) Familiars are neat, but their value is more limited for a martial character than a caster.

Burrow Elocutionist (**) Talking to animals is cool, but the limited list of “creatures that spend a lot of time in holes” means you won’t get much info out of them a lot of the time. Also, like, does this feat’s existence imply a magical ability to understand animals, or that all burrowing animals have an actual language that they use to talk to each other?

Fey Fellowship (**) How often do you anticipate negotiating with the fey. If the answer is “enough to warrant this feat,” consider bailing on that campaign, because the fey are terrible.

First World Magic (****) What’s that? Even more cantrips? At this rate, you might as well call yourself a caster.

Gnome Obsession (***) Lores tend to be very particular, but if you can think of one that will be frequently useful, having it autoscale should be really handy.

Gnome Weapon Familiarity (***) Usually these warrant a two star, but honestly the gnome flickmace is worth it.

Illusion Sense (***) Disregarding an entire school of magic’s entire schtick without even trying? Now that sounds like fun.

Gnome Polyglot (LOCG) (**) Take it if you anticipate needing a lot of languages.

Grim Insight (LOCG) (***) You already have defenses against fear, but turning that fear on your opponents might be worth it.

Inventive Offensive (LOCG) (*) Walk into combat with a bat filled with spikes, I love it. Unfortunately, only applying to one attack, high action cost and not being able to stick it on an emergency weapon in your pocket make it a trap.

Life-Giving Magic (LOCG) (**) Using up your reaction on a tiny amount of temp hp that doesn’t even last that long is a waste of a reaction and a waste of a feat in my opinion, but it isn’t completely without value.

Natural Performer (LOCG) (**) Did you want Performance and a related skill feat? Then sure.

Theoretical Acumen (LOCG) (**) This is a bizarrely specific thing with a once per day only application and you don’t want to be using your actions in combat to identify anyway.

Unexpected Shift (LOCG) (**) The resistance is cool, but the saving throw bonus applies too little too late, and also, you just dazzled yourself. Never dazzle yourself.

Vibrant Display (LOCG) (**) As Feinting only applies to attacks you make, this isn’t that valuable unless you want to spread your attacks around, which as a general rule you don’t.

5th Level Feats

Animal Elocutionist (***) Now this is more like it. Talking to birds and squirrels, much more useful than talking to badgers and moles (disclaimer: talking to any and all of these creatures, regardless of their use, is still super cute). As a bonus, you can communicate with big, hostile animals as well.

Energized Font (**) Being a fighter, you do not have a focus pool. However, if you were to archetype into something that did, this can help.

Gnome Weapon Innovator (*) It’s the same old story.

Eclectic Obsession (LOCG) (***) Playing with a bard has taught me the value of being able to go “oh Lore? Yeah I have that.” As an aside, I’m the GM for that campaign and on my side of the table I hate it.

Intuitive Illusions (LOCG) (*) Breaking news: You are not a spellcaster. Even if you are, once per day free action Sustain a Spell isn’t worth a feat.

Natural Illusionist (LOCG) (**) These spells aren’t bad. They’re also not that great.

9th Level Feats

First World Adept (***) Here’s some innate spells I can get behind. Faerie fire will solve your problems with enemy invisibility, invisibility will solve your problems with not being invisible.

Vivacious Conduit (****) As a fighter, expect to take hits to the face. Extra self-healing just for resting (including guaranteed full health every morning) is sweet.

Fortuitous Shift (***) So you ignored my advice and took Unexpected Shift anyway. Well, as long as we’re here, might as well get rid of that dazzled condition. You’re still burning a reaction, but you’re also approaching the point where you can take more of those.

13th Level Feats

Gnome Weapon Expertise (*) Same old song and dance my friends.

Overall: The gnome gets three stars (***). It’s scraping for that third one, but access to the gnome flickmace really puts it over the top, it’s that good of a weapon, and if you want to play around a little bit with magic but not commit class feats to it it’s probably your best option.

Goblins

Hit Points (**): 6 is still not good, but we can fix it.

Speed (***): 25 feet, perfectly balanced as all things should be.

Ability Boosts/Flaws (**): Dexterity good, Charisma not so much, and a penalty to Wisdom is also not great, although it’s not the worst thing in the world.

Darkvision (****) Protection from stubbing your toe when you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Heritages

Charhide Goblin (****) This is the best version of fire resistance yet, since it also has a second combat application.

Irongut Goblin (***) The bonus against sickened is good, as is drinking potions and elixirs while sickened.

Razortooth Goblin (**) If you want a backup weapon you can’t lose it’s fine, but you’ve got access to swords and such.

Snow Goblin (****) Cold resistance is good resistance.

Unbreakable Goblin (***) More hp is good, and falling damage can actually pack a serious punch now.

Tailed Goblin (LOCG) (***) A lot of small bonuses here, particularly the climbing stuff, but those add up, and also, like, look at the artwork for monkey goblins.

Treedweller Goblin (LOCG) (**) Usefulness scales with time spent in the jungle.

1st Level Feats

Burn It! (*) You don’t have native access to fire damage, and the amount isn’t really good either.

City Scavenger (**) Your value here will depend on how much downtime you spend in cities, and even then there’s better uses of your time.

Goblin Lore (**) Nature and Stealth are okay, as is the Lore, but you can do better.

Goblin Scuttle (***) Competition for your sought after reactions, but a quick reposition will let you flank more easily and effectively.

Goblin Song (**) Even if you’re a performer, you have better uses of your actions.

Goblin Weapon Familiarity (**) The weapons you get access to aren’t even very good here.

Junk Tinker (**) You can save a little bit of downtime and money with this, but… eh?

Rough Rider (*) You don’t get an animal companion, and purchased mounts are gonna fall off hard in terms of survivability.

Very Sneaky (**) Worth taking if you’re the sneaky type, probably moreso than Goblin Scuttle.

Bouncy Goblin (LOCG) (***) Free skill rank, but more importantly you get a bonus to Tumble Through, which is valuable for repositioning.

Fang Sharpener (LOCG) (***) Mkay, now we’re making the Razortooth heritage worth it.

Hard Tail (LOCG) (**) The tail attack isn’t much good, but it unlocks stuff later.

5th Level Feats

Goblin Weapon Frenzy (*) It’s the same old story.

Ankle Bite (LOCG) (***) Halflings can just ignore the Grab ability. This is more fun.

Chosen of Lamashtu (LOCG) (***) There are some great heritage choices, although the flavor prerequisite holds it back from the new and infinitely more interesting heroic goblins.

Tail Spin (LOCG) (***) Friends for life through thick and thin. You get to knock two targets down and do damage to them.

Torch Goblin (LOCG) (****) So mechanically this is only okay, mostly useful for proccing fire weakness. However, the very idea of a goblin setting themselves on fire to deal more damage is just… I don’t… I can’t even, it’s so beautiful I think I’m gonna cry.

Tree Climber (LOCG) (***) More movespeed types is nice.

9th Level Feats

Cave Climber (***) Stacks with Tree Climber for even more movespeed.

Skittering Scuttle (***) Builds on Goblin Scuttle for even more repositioning.

Freeze It! (LOCG) (****) For one action you can debuff two enemies with no limitations, that’s just delightful.

Hungry Goblin (LOCG) (****) And now not only do you do solid damage with your bite, you also heal yourself on a crit. Really going a long way to make this heritage worth.

Roll With It (LOCG) (*) Silly fun though this sounds, you really don’t want to let your enemies reposition you, trigger your reactions, and then prone and stun yourself all to avoid damage.

Scalding Spit (LOCG) (***) Remember that because it’s an unarmed attack, handwraps of mighty strikes will apply here.

13th Level Feats

Goblin Weapon Expertise (*) Same old story.

Very, Very Sneaky (**) Still worth taking if you’re the sneaking type. I’m still patiently awaiting Very, Very, Very Sneaky at 17th.

Unbreakable-er Goblin (LOCG) (**) A little more hp is nice, and bouncing like a freaking superball sounds fun, but ultimately, niche.

Overall: Goblins only get two stars (**). They are by no means bad, but most of their good feat options are for specific niche things and are mutually exclusive besides thanks to heritage prereqs. If you’re playing a goblin, it’s for flavor, not mechanical strength.

Halflings

Hit Points (**): 6, which sucks.

Speed (***): 25 feet, perfectly balanced as all things should be.

Ability Boosts/Flaws (***): Dexterity is good, Wisdom is good, Strength penalty is not great but unlike goblins we like both of our boosts, so this is workable.

Keen Eyes (***) This is a very different sort of special eyes, but it’s arguably better than low-light vision in most cases.

Heritages

Gutsy Halfling (***) Emotion effects suck and critically succeeding means they don’t hurt you.

Hillock Halfling (***) There’s just something delightful about the idea of eating a snack while someone bandages you up and it actively heals your wounds. Have I ever mentioned that the Knapsack of Halflingkind is my favorite item in the universe?

Nomadic Halfling (**) Extra languages are only situationally useful.

Twilight Halfling (****) You mean I can have both keen eyes and low-light vision? Sold!

Wildwood Halfling (**) As always, scales with how much time you spend in the jungle.

Observant Halfling (**) Not bad but comparatively speaking there are better options.

1st Level Feats

Distracting Shadows (**) Useful if you want to sneak, especially mid-combat which tends to leave few places to hide.

Halfling Lore (**) You can get Acrobatics trained from your class, making this a free flexible skill rank, plus two fixed ones.

Halfling Luck (****) Fail a saving throw? Nah fam, I’m too lucky for that.

Halfling Weapon Familiarity (**) Like with goblin, your weapon options here aren’t great anyway.

Sure Feet (**) I personally haven’t seen this come up that much, although when you do need to climb the free crit success is a major boon.

Titan Slinger (*) You’re taking a feat for an average increase of 1 point of damage per die when using a specific weapon against a specific category of creature, when you could’ve just used a bow instead.

Unfettered Halfling (****) Grab sucks. If you end your turn next to a warg, there’s a high likelihood you’ll be eaten. Don’t be eaten, be unfettered.

Watchful Halfling (***) I don’t expect it will come up that much that you’re dealing with an enchanted or possessed person, but that’s part of why this is a decent feat, you’ll probably rarely remember to do this yourself.

Adroit Manipulation (LOCG) (**) If you’re the team’s local thievery expert it’s not bad, but the difference between success and critical success isn’t much.

Innocuous (LOCG) (**) Do you plan on lying a lot? If yes, then sure.

Intuitive Cooperation (LOCG) (***) Aiding is terrible in the early game, but once you hit the midgame this is not a bad choice.

Unassuming Dedication (LOCG) (**) Value will depend on how much downtime you have and what you regularly do during it.

5th Level Feats

Cultural Adaptability (***) About as valuable as another ancestry’s feats look to you.

Halfling Weapon Trickster (*) Same old story.

Easily Dismissed (LOCG) (**) The value depends on how much you want to sneak and how often you’re in crowded areas where you want to sneak.

Halfling Ingenuityv (LOCG) (***) Less generally good than, say, the human equivalent, but a +4 circumstance bonus (effectively making you an expert) once a day is nothing to sneeze at.

Shared Luck (LOCG) (****) My friend failed a saving throw? Nah fam, I’m still too lucky for that.

9th Level Feats

Guiding Luck (****) Oh, I missed? We’ve been through this already.

Irrepressible (***) Same value as Gutsy. If you’re already Gutsy, goes up to four stars.

Cunning Climber (LOCG) (***) Climb speeds are still useful.

Fade Away (LOCG) (***) Now here’s something everyone can get behind. Go unnoticed through magic.

Helpful Halfling (LOCG) (**) Aiding is all well and good, but this requires you to critically succeed to get use.

13th Level Feats

Ceaseless Shadows (**) I refer you to all the other sneaking feats.

Halfling Weapon Expertise (*) Same old song and daaaaaaaance. (thank you for going on that journey with me, I just got really bored with these.)

Cobble Dancer (LOCG) (**) Free flat-footed on your enemies is nice, although situational.

Incredible Luck (LOCG) (*****) Oh this is a hell of an upgrade. Going from daily to hourly takes Halfling Luck over the top.

Overall: Halflings score four stars (****). The Strength penalty sucks but otherwise the ability boosts are good, you’ve got a unique sense and your feats are just *chef’s kiss*.

Humans

Hit Points (***): 8, the middle one.

Speed (***): 25 feet, perfectly balanced as all things should be.

Ability Boosts/Flaws (****): Two boosts wherever you want is shiny, although not as great as three boosts going exactly where you need them.

No Special Senses (*) The only core ancestry without any kind of special eyes.

Heritages

Half-Elf (*****) This is the best ancestry/heritage combination and you cannot convince me otherwise. You get access to amazing feats on both sides and bump up to low-light vision, it’s beautiful.

Half-Orc (***) Not as good as half-elf, but you still get a nice array of good stuff.

Skilled Heritage (*) Two skill ranks for a heritage, no freaking thank you, we’ve got so many better options.

Versatile Heritage (****) There are some great choices at level 1, including Adopted Ancestry, which makes this like taking half-elf or half-orc but with more options and less low-light vision.

Wintertouched Human (***) Ranked lower than other resistance heritages because c’mon, you have such good choices here.

1st Level Human Feats

Adapted Cantrip (*) This is not for you, unless you multiclass but even then it’s still really not for you.

Cooperative Nature (***) Aiding is a really high DC for low levels and a +4 is a huge bonus in this system.

General Training (****) As Versatile Heritage.

Haughty Obstinancy (**) Getting mentally controlled is terrible, but this is more niche than other “bump a save to a crit save” feats.

Natural Ambition (***) Good for picking up some backup tools. Archers likely don’t care, but anyone can benefit from an emergency Power Attack, Sudden Charge, or other fast action buttons. One-hander gets the best use through Snagging Strike and Exacting Strike.

Natural Skill (***) Two free skill ranks anywhere you want to go is nice.

Unconventional Weaponry (**) Do you want an uncommon weapon? If so, yes, if not, no.

Arcane Tattoos (LOCG) (***) Snag abjuration or evocation for some sweet backup magic.

Courteous Comeback (LOCG) (**) Even if you’re the face, you likely won’t get value out of this unless you’re constantly moving from community to community.

Devil’s Advocate (LOCG) (**) Dependent on how often you expect to fight and/or negotiate with devils.

Dragon Spit (LOCG) (***) For if you want produce flame or ray of frost over electric arc.

Gloomseer (LOCG) (***) Yay, our eyes are finally special.

Keep Up Appearances (LOCG) (***) See this is really cool because it also means enemies might waste actions on you trying to hit you with the same ability again, and also it’s just flavorful as heck.

Know Oneself (LOCG) (***) Competes for your precious reactions, but critically failing any saving throw is a bad thing.

Quah Bond (LOCG) (***) Grabbing a free skill rank and Assurance is a good. I recommend Medicine from this list.

Saoc Astrology (LOCG) (**) If you can afford to take 10 minutes before trying something important, this is good odds, and if can be a good excuse to take a 10 minute breather for the party, but it’s very situational.

Tupilaq Carver (LOCG) (*) Not a spellcaster.

Viking Shieldbearer (LOCG) (*) Guess what you already have. Did you guess “Shield Block and training with all martial weapons?”

Witch Warden (LOCG) (**) This is specific enough that you’re only gonna take this in a campaign against witches and hags specifically.

1st Level Half-Elf Feats

Elf Atavism (***) About as good as whatever heritage you can pick up with it.

Round Ears (LOCG) (**) Only useful if regularly find yourself needing to pretend you’re human.

Sociable (LOCG) (**) Only useful if you’re playing face.

1st Level Half-Orc Feats

Monstrous Peacemaker (***) Even if you’re not playing face, you’ll usually be around to sense these creatures’ motives.

Orc Ferocity (***) Another competitor for your reaction, but it can keep you standing, which is crucial for a fight.

Orc Sight (***) Darkvision is always good.

Orc Superstition (***) You only have so many reactions, but this can be worthwhile.

Orc Weapon Familiarity (**) You know the drill.

Overlooked Mastermind (LOCG) (**) Very specific situational bonus that only matters if you’re playing face.

Tusks (LOCG) (**) You have weapon options and they’re all better than this.

5th Level Human Feats

Adaptive Adept (*) Still not for you.

Clever Improviser (****) The alternative to taking extra skills is not needing to take any skills!

Darkseer (LOCG) (***) Even more special eyes.

Ornate Tattoo (LOCG) (***) I recommend alarm, feather fall, gust of wind or hydraulic push if you went with my suggested schools before, and charm, fleet step, jump, longstrider, ray of enfeeblement, spider sting or true strike if you didn’t.

Wavetouched Paragon (LOCG) (**) Value will depend on the frequency of needing to swim.

5th Level Half-Elf Feats

Inspire Imitation (**) Aid is hard to hit, but so is critically succeeding at the thing you’re doing yourself.

Supernatural Charm (**) Charm is an alright spell.

5th Level Half-Orc Feats

Orc Weapon Carnage (*) I feel like we’ve been here before.

Victorious Vigor (*) Your reaction and feat aren’t worth 2-4 temporary hit points.

9th Level Human Feats

Cooperative Soul (*) This sounds great, but the DC to Aid Another is 20 and an expert at level 9 with Cooperative Nature has a 17+ability score modifier, so all this does is protect you from natural 1s.

Incredible Improvisation (***) +4 is big, but only once per day means you’ll have to pick carefully.

Multitalented (***) About as valuable as your desire for multiclassing.

Dragon Prince (LOCG) (***) Dragon breath is awesome, and it gives you a taste of being a dragon sorcerer without having to commit to magic. Plus you’ll have great writing and animation that gets better over time.

Heir of the Saoc (LOCG) (**) If you took Saoc Astrology you might as well.

Shory Aeromancer (LOCG) (***) Hey, what’s always been the biggest weakness of a melee fighter? No innate ability to fly. Well fear not, now you can.

Virtue-Forged Tattoos (LOCG) (***) I’m not even gonna cover all the options you have available to you here, but there’s a lot of them. A nice capper to this feat line.

9th Level Half-Orc Feats

Pervasive Superstition (***) Now that you don’t need a reaction, this feels pretty good.

13th Level Human Feats

Unconventional Expertise (*) Familiar, why is this so familiar?

Irriseni Ice-Witch (LOCG) (****) A sizeable boost to your cold resistance and a decent innate spell to boot.

Shadow Pact (LOCG) (**) 1 point of damage for any tool you might need, but no bright light around. Pass.

Shory Aerialist (LOCG) (**) Being a little faster when flying is alright, but this isn’t a great upgrade.

13th Level Half-Orc Feats

Incredible Ferocity (***) If you took Orc Ferocity, then this is a fantastic upgrade.

Orc Weapon Expertise (*) Familiar, like something I used to know.

Overall: With the sheer breadth of options relative to other ancestries, most of them rated highly, it should come as no surprise that humans get a solid five stars (*****).

Hobgoblins (LOCG)

Hit Points (***): Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9, which it was able to do because 8 was in the middle. I’ll see myself out again.

Speed (***): 25 feet, perfectly balanced as all things should be.

Ability Boosts/Flaws (**): Constitution boost and Wisdom flaw balance each other out in my mind, and Intelligence boost isn’t ideal.

Darkvision (****) Yay seeing in darkness.

Heritages

Elfbane Hobgoblin (***) Much like ancient-blooded dwarf and orc superstition, you’re looking at a boost that eats up valuable reactions.

Runtboss Hobgoblin (**) The feat is nice, but the other half is annoyingly specific.

Smokeworker Hobgoblin (****) Fire resistance and a second bonus that isn’t just “the heat never bothered me anyway” is choice.

Warmarch Hobgoblin (**) Dependent on how often you travel.

Warrenbred Hobgoblin (**) Nifty, but both bonuses are situational.

1st Level Feats

Alchemical Scholar (**) This feat pretty much only exists for alchemists to get more alchemical formulae at level 1, but if you Background into Alchemical Crafting, like, I guess?

Hobgoblin Lore (**) Athletics is basically a free skill rank anywhere, and Crafting is a decent skill.

Hobgoblin Weapon Familiarity (*) It’s a crying shame because this is the best weapon familiarity in the game, but there’s no such thing as a hobgoblin weapon right now.

Leech-Clipper (***) A compelling reason to specialize in flails.

Remorseless Lash (***) And a compelling reason to go into an Intimidation build.

Vigorous Health (***) Drained isn’t that common, but when it comes up it’s a pain in the ass.

5th Level Feats

Agonizing Rebuke (***) Combined with Remorseless Lash you basically turn your Demoralize skill into persistent damage, which is awesome.

Expert Drill Sergeant (**) Mostly valuable if you’ve taken something like Stealth or Survival where you want people following your lead.

Formation Training (**) Only applies with hobgoblin allies, which makes it severely limiting.

Hobgoblin Weapon Discipline (*) Seriously, I swear this is amazing for anyone not already trained in all weapons.

9th Level Feats

Pride In Arms (*) Seriously, less temp hp than you can count on your hands is not worth a feat.

13th Level Feats

Formation Master (*) It’s not worth two feats to make this usable in any party.

Hobgoblin Weapon Expertise (*) I’m crying over here guys, you have no idea.

Overall: Hobgoblins aren’t great at being fighters, but they do lend themselves really well to Intimidation Fighter, so they get two stars (**) for not being completely outclassed.

Leshies (LOCG)

Hit Points (***): 8 is still average last time I checked.

Speed (***): 25 feet, perfectly balanced as all things should be.

Ability Boosts/Flaws (****): Reminiscent of dwarves, actually, with both secondaries boosted and a tertiary dropped.

Low-Light Vision (***) Once again, better than nothing.

Plant Nourishment (***) Basically, you don’t have to spend money on food unless you expect to be underground a lot, at which point you’ll probably be making up the cost. Still, it’s fun, and it’s free.

Heritages

Fungus Leshy (***) Your requisite special eyes upgrade.

Gourd Leshy (****) The mechanical benefit that you care about is effectively getting Quick Draw, but the real benefit is that you have an empty pumpkin for a head that you can store things in and that’s just fantastic.

Leaf Leshy (**) No falling damage is good but not amazing.

Vine Leshy (***) Your Athletics should be good, so free critical successes on climbing, y’all.

1st Level Feats

Grasping Reach (****) Reducing your damage by a little bit to give yourself reach feels like a pretty good trade to me.

Harmlessly Cute (**) Scales in usefulness with how much you face and how often you need to make outrageous requests, but it’s also adorable, so there’s that.

Leshy Lore (**) As usual.

Leshy Superstition (***) As usual, you only have so many reactions to burn.

Seedpod (***) A built in ranged weapon with their own unique critical specialization is heckin’ fun.

Shadow of the Wilds (**) Value depends on how often you need to cover your tracks in a non-urban environment.

Undaunted (***) Still like flipping the bird to emotion effects.

5th Level Feats

Leshy Glide (**) Fun, but situational. But so fun.

Ritual Reversion (**) Sometimes you just wanna disguise yourself as a pumpkin. Yes, I’m still on gourd leshy.

Speak with Kindred (***) Sometimes, you just wanna talk to a pumpkin. Really though being able to communicate with plants is great because plants are everywhere and see everything. In order of value, Leaf gets the best value, followed by Fungus and Vine, then Gourd (because watermelons are not, in fact, everywhere, and are very low to the ground).

9th Level Feats

Bark and Tendril (**) Barkskin isn’t a great spell, but entangle can make for decent control.

Lucky Keepsake (***) Y’know what’s great? Having bonuses that don’t depend on reactions. Especially bonuses tied to a cute little knickknack.

Solar Rejuvenation (***) Self-healing while having your wounds treated, or just, y’know, whenever you have a breather.

Overall: If you had told me that hobgoblins would suck as fighters while leshies were amazing before I started this guide, I would’ve laughed at you, but here we are with four stars (****).

Lizardfolk

Hit Points (***): Until such time as 12 HP ancestries become a thing, 8 will continue to be average.

Speed (***): 25 feet, perfectly balanced as all things should be.

Ability Boosts/Flaws (*****): Boost to a primary, boost to a secondary, flaw to a tertiary, you literally could not get a better type of spread without breaking Paizo’s arbitrary rule about one-physical-one-mental.

No Special Senses (*) … well we can’t have everything.

Claws (***) Your claws are actually a decent backup or off-hand weapon thanks to agile.

Aquatic Adaptation (**) A situational bonus, to be sure, but not unwelcome.

Heritages

Cliffscale Lizardfolk (***) Bonus feat, the ability to walk up walls, and boosting your success to crit success? Obviously depends on how often you expect to climb but damn that’s rad.

Frilled Lizardfolk (***) Man, hobgoblin cannot catch a break today if there’s another ancestry that’s good at Intimidation.

Sandstrider Lizardfolk (****) Fire resistance, natch.

Unseen Lizardfolk (**) Cool as being a chameleon is, this gets the same rating as the actual chameleon heritage.

Wetlander Lizardfolk (**) Swim speed is cool, but of course depends on if you need to swim a lot.

1st Level Feats

Lizardfolk Lore (**) Ancestry Lore is probably never not gonna be two star.

Marsh Runner (**) Situational to specific terrains.

Parthenogenic Hatchling (***) The disease thing is cool, especially if you’re not especially lucky.

Razor Claws (***) Basically upgrading your claws into permanent shortswords, very nice.

Reptile Speaker (***) The ability to talk to reptiles isn’t as cool as the plantspeak leshies have or the gnome’s ability to talk to all animals, but you’ll find lizards everywhere that it’s warm.

Sharp Fangs (***) So while you do have real weapon options that are better, if you’re going in on your claws, you can actually make a solid natural attacks build taking advantage of handwraps of mighty blows applying to all of them.

Tail Whip (***) An alternative to the fangs, or if you’re feeling cocky, take all three for type coverage.

5th Level Feats

Envenom Fangs (***) Power up your fangs attack and make it even more justified over a real weapon.

Gecko’s Grip (***) Go all in on that awesome climbing thing.

Iruxi Unarmed Cunning (*) Oh we’re back to this waste of our lives.

Shed Tail (***) I said good day to you sir. A nice countermeasure against Grab.

Swift Swimmer (**) Swim speed is still situational.

9th Level Feats

Terrain Advantage (**) Difficult terrain is not necessarily common, but there’s definitely a use here. As an aside, if you’re in an Underwater Campaign all of these swim speed feats go up to 4 star.

13th Level Feats

Iruxi Unarmed Expertise (*) Someday we’ll maybe see one of these feats not suck for us.

Overall: In addition to being a really solid ancestry for martial classes in general, lizardfolk have a niche they really excel at over everyone else except maybe monkey goblins, so they get a full four stars (****).

Continued in Part 2.