[Ziegander]

I think this is about as a close as I can get it without writing an entirely new system.

Spoiler

The Fighter

Alignment: Any
Hit Die: 1d10
Starting Gold: 6d8x10 (270gp)

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Craft Reserve	M. Ready	Stances
1st	+1	+2	+0	+0	Brew Potion, Master Craftsman, Pack Mule, Trapfinding	10	4	1
2nd	+2	+3	+0	+0	Bonus Feat	25	4	2
3rd	+3	+3	+1	+1	Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Uncanny Dodge	40	4	2
4th	+4	+4	+1	+1	Bonus Feat	60	5	2
5th	+5	+4	+1	+1	Problem Solver	80	5	3
6th	+6/+1	+5	+2	+2	Bonus Feat	100	6	3
7th	+7/+2	+5	+2	+2	Combat Edge +1	150	6	3
8th	+8/+3	+6	+2	+2	Bonus Feat	200	7	4
9th	+9/+4	+6	+3	+3	Craft Wondrous Item	250	7	4
10th	+10/+5	+7	+3	+3	Bonus Feat	300	8	4
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+3	+3	Array of Stunts	400	8	5
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+4	+4	Bonus Feat	500	9	5
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+4	+4	Combat Edge +2	700	9	5
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+4	+4	Bonus Feat	900	10	6
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+5	+5	Forge Ring	1200	10	6
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+5	+5	Bonus Feat	1500	11	6
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+5	Man of Action	2000	11	7
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+6	Bonus Feat	2500	12	7
19th	+19/+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+6	Combat Edge +3	3000	12	7
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+6	Bonus Feat, Lord of War	4000	13	8

Class Skills (8 + Int modifier): Appraise, Autohypnosis, Balance, Bluff, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Heal, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (Any), Listen, Martial Lore, Move Silently, Perform, Profession, Ride, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Survival, Swim, Tumble, Use Magic Device, and Use Rope.

Weapon & Armor Proficiency
A Fighter is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, all armors, and all shields.

Maneuvers & Stances
A Fighter utilizes maneuvers and stances, extraordinary or supernatural expressions of martial arts, to help him deal with foes and other obstacles. Unlike a normal initiator, a Fighter does not have a discrete list of maneuvers or stances known, rather he is familiar with all martial maneuvers and simply needs time to ready them. A Fighter may ready maneuvers from all of the nine disciplines found in the Book of Nine Swords, as well as Amaranth Eclipse, Army of One, Black Rain, Chthonic Serpent, Coin's Edge, Dancing Goddess, Domestic Terrasque, Eternal Glacier, Golem Heart, Hero's Edge, Surreptitious Bandit, and Thunder Bolt.

Once per day, as long as the Fighter has gotten 8 hours of rest, after 1 hour of practice, he may ready a number of maneuvers and stances up to the numbers given in the M. Ready and Stances columns in the table above, respectively. These maneuvers and stances are readied until his next practice. He may only ready maneuvers and stances once every 24 hours.

To ready a maneuver he must have an initiator level equal to that required of other initiators for learning that maneuver. The Fighter is considered to have known any maneuvers he has readied (for the purposes of meeting prerequisites).

After a Fighter readies his maneuvers he may use them at any time he is able to spend the appropriate initiation time (usually a standard, swift, or immediate action). After a Fighter uses a maneuver it is expended and cannot be used again until it is recovered. A Fighter recovers all of his expended maneuvers after 5 minutes of non-strenuous activity or by spending a swift action on his turn after making an attack or full-attack. He may not initiate maneuvers while he is recovering his maneuvers. Stances are not expended and thus do not need to be recovered.

Master Craftsman (Ex): Whenever a Fighter crafts an item he may use magical tools and/or materials in order to create a magic item. When he does, he has an effective caster level equal to his Fighter level and may ignore any prerequisite spells needed to create the item so long as he possesses the appropriate item creation feat and the spell is of a level no higher than 1/2 his Fighter levels rounded up.

When creating magic items other than potions and scrolls the Fighter crafts a masterwork item using magical tools and/or materials, making the appropriate Craft skill checks against the item's market value as a mundane item not a magic item. This costs the Fighter 1/2 the finished item's market value in GP for the materials and 1/25 the finished item's market value in XP.

For example, if the Fighter wanted to create a Boat of Folding (CL 6), he would need to be 6th level or higher, build a masterwork boat with Craft (Woodworking) skill checks, and possess the Craft Wondrous Item feat.

This ability allows the Fighter to craft alchemical items as though he were a spellcaster, and when using the Brew Potion feat he must make Craft (Alchemy) checks against the item's value.

Craft Reserve
A Fighter receives a pool of points he can spend instead of experience points when crafting a magic item. Each time the Fighter gains a new level, he receives a new craft reserve; leftover points from the previous level do not carry over. If the points are not spent, they are lost. A Fighter can also use his craft reserve to supplement the XP cost of the item he is making, taking a portion of the cost from his craft reserve and a portion from his own XP.

Pack Mule (Ex): Fighters are used to long journeys with a heavy pack and the use of a wide variety of weaponry and equipment. A Fighter suffers no penalties for carrying a medium load, and may retrieve any stored item from his person as a move action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.

Trapfinding (Ex): Fighters can search for and disable traps in the same way Rogues can.

Creation Feats
A Fighter receives the Brew Potion feat as a bonus feat at 1st level, the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat as a bonus feat at 3rd level, the Craft Wondrous Item feat as a bonus feat at 9th level, and the Forge Ring feat as a bonus feat at 15th level. He need not meet the prerequisites of these bonus feats.

Additionally, he may take other item creation feats using his effective caster level to meet the prerequisites.

Bonus Feats
At 2nd level and every even level thereafter, a Fighter gains a bonus feat from the list of Fighter Bonus Feats. He must meet all prerequisites of any feat gained in this way except for ability score requirements. Anytime the Fighter readies his maneuvers and stances he may choose to lose all Fighter Bonus Feats gained in this way to gain an equal number of new Fighter Bonus Feats that he meets the prerequisites for (save the ability score requirements).

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): As Barbarian.

Problem Solver (Ex): Starting at 5th level, when a Fighter readies his maneuvers and stances he may also ready a number of contingent actions equal to his Intelligence modifier (minimum 1). Contingent actions are like readied actions (PHB 160) except that you may take them at any time in the next 24 hours and after you take a contingent action your initiative count does not change.

Combat Edge (Ex): Starting at 7th level, the Fighter is treated for all beneficial purposes as a creature one size category larger than he is. At 13th level he is treated as a creature two size categories larger, and at 19th level he is treated as a creature three size categories larger. This ability does not allow the Fighter to wield oversized weapons without difficulty though it will increase his reach.

Array of Stunts (Ex): Starting at 11th level, a Fighter does not lose his next turn's swift action after he uses an immediate action.

Man of Action (Ex): Starting at 17th level, a Fighter may take two swift actions on his turn. Further, he may exchange two swift actions for an extra standard action.

Lord of War (Ex): A 20th level Fighter is never surprised, never flat-footed, and cannot be flanked. If he threatens a creature that gains less than +1 to base attack bonus per HD, then that creature is flat-footed and considered flanked by the Fighter and all of his allies regardless of their actual positions. When he hits a creature with an attack of opportunity that creature must make a Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 Fighter level + Dexterity modifier) to avoid being treated as helpless and struck by a coup de grace.

What I don't like about it, compared to a Wizard or Cleric, is that any idiot could pick it up and be a very strong Tier 3 character, but it's very easy for poor player choice to result in a Wizard or Cleric build that's as weak as the CW Samurai.