Skill Monkey Fighter (help)

[Ironheart]

In a home game I’m currently in, we had the opportunity to start with an extra feat (as a reward for taking our previous party to level 20) and I received permission to play VHuman, giving me another feat on top of that feat. In an attempt to not break the game horribly, I decided to take the Skilled and Observant feats at level 1, and I’ve enjoyed having the extra proficiencies to work with so far. Altogether, I have 7 skill proficiencies and 2 tool proficiencies and a passive perception and investigation of 20 currently, with all of it put together.

Another significant boon was that I managed to roll fairly well for stats as well, ending up with:
15+1 STR
14 DEX
16 CON
14 INT
13+2 WIS
7 CHA

Spoiler: Current Chassis | Current Build

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Background: Noble Background but instead of the main feature I substituted in Charalatan’s false life feature, and traded out the gaming set for tinker’s tools.
History and Persuasion prof.
Level 1: Defense Fighting Style, Skilled (Perception, Investigation, Smith’s Tools), Observant (+1 WIS), VHuman extra Skill prof. (Animal Handling), all of the other fighter goodies
Level 2: Fighter goodies (AKA I love short rests)
Level 3: Champion Archetype, improved critical
Level 4: Polearm Master Feat
Level 5: Extra Attack (with a polearm, this means I can get 3 attacks a turn)

Spoiler: Current Ideas

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-Level 6: Prodigy (persuasion expertise, survival, Forgery kit)
Level 7: Remarkable Athlete kicks in- +2 to initiative and other physical checks.
-Level 8: GWM
Level 9: Indomitable, all physical skills and proficient skills improve by +1
-Level 10: GWF
Level 11: Extra Attack (2)
-Level 12: STR +1 / CHA +1
Level 13 Indomitable (2) and, all physical skills and proficient skills improve by +1
-Level 14: Brawny or Perceptive - tops off either strength or wisdom.
Level 15: Superior Critical - helps to make GWM more consistent.
-Level 16: +2 CON
Level 17 Action surge and Indomitable- Nothing else.
Level 18: Survivor - regain 9 HP every turn, up to half
-Level 19: Blade master or Spear Master
Level 20: Have fun lol.

TL;DR: I'm trying to find what build will allow the character to do two things -- Be a single classed Champion Fighter, mostly trying to leverage the Remarkable Athlete feature to the best effect possible, and have something to do in combat other than "I attack 4 times". The easier (and probably more optimal) thing to do would have been to go battle master, but I wanted to challenge myself to use subclasses that I wouldn't think of using.

Spoiler: Context Matters | Party Composition

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My party composition, with most of what I can recall about their builds and their relevant attack modifiers:
1. Arcane Archer VHuman who selected Sharpshooter as his extra feat. Dex 18. Fills the ranged striker role.
2. Mountain Dwarf Vengeance Paladin who has a Rage-lite homebrew feat that allows him to rage once a day for a minute, and he has to rage for a full minute, unable to stop. Great RPing stuff. Str 18. Fills the melee damage dealing and emergency healing roles.
3. Stout Halfling Shadow Monk 3/Rouge 2, not sure what they selected for their feat. Dex 20. Occasional debuffer but mostly a melee burst character.
4. Tabaxi Moon Druid with Mobile feat, maker of hilarious cat puns and gourmand extraordinaire. Dex 16 and Wisdom 18. Likes to be the backline, and is tanky enough to hop in when he likes. Typically focuses on casting and healing.
5. Half Elf Assassin Rouge 3/Bard 2, not sure what she took for her feat either. Dex 18. Likes to stay at a distance but almost always gets caught in melee.

Another big theme within the party is that we all have proficiency with tools of some kind or other, and we all craft during our downtime. I was also wondering how I could utilize my own tools (Smith’s and Tinker’s) to prep for combat.

So mainly three questions, after knowing the context of my current build:
1. In the face of three party members who will also have access to some form of Expertise (Prodigy FTW), is it worthwhile to invest ASI’s to try and get more expertise?
2. What are some creative ways I can combine Smiths and Tinkers Tools?
3. What combat build do you recommend focusing on? I’m hoping to make a Batman/Charles Atlas “I work harder and smarter than you” build.

[LtPowers]

I have options that improve my ability as a skill monkey at the cost of being more proficient at combat. There doesn’t seem to be a ‘middle of the road’ approach than manages to let my character fit all of these roles well (skill monkey, versatile damage dealer, and tank)

Well, not to be flippant, but that's by design. You're not supposed to be able to do everything yourself.

You are already ridiculously highly skilled for a fighter, on top of all the usual fighter stuff. Now you can keep picking stuff from various trees or you can focus on just one, but you can't be a world-beater at every role.


Powers &8^]

[Ironheart]

Oops, that does come across as me wanting to intentionally break the world. A better way that should be stated is that I’m having trouble determining the benefit of focusing skill checks over choices that will improve my damage and survivability in combat.

I wanted additional thoughts on what his build should be excellent at and what choices will reflect that.