Should I get the feat?

[AncientPlasma]

I was wondering, should I make a fighter WITHOUT the Bastard Sword feat but use the sword anyways? Is -4 attack penalty all that much or is it too much?

[Visty]

get the kopesh feat and use kopeshs, way better :)

[Impaqt]

Actually, the better question is
"Should I use bastard swords?"

TO which most would reply.

"Absolutely not"

But if you do insist, yes, take the feat. Fighters are not exactly starved for feats.

[KoboldKiller]

As others have said fighters have feats to burn so if taking an exotic weapon use the feat.

As for the bastard sword khopesh debate while the khopesh is better I have a guy I use bastard swords on for flavor and better availability.

[Angelus_dead]

Using a Bastard Sword without proficiency not only gives a -4 attack penalty, but also deactivates the glancing blows.

[DavionFuxa]

I was wondering, should I make a fighter WITHOUT the Bastard Sword feat but use the sword anyways? Is -4 attack penalty all that much or is it too much?

Unless for some reason you are starved on feats, which is near impossible to do on a Fighter, you should take the Bastard Sword feat if you plan on using Bastard Swords. If you have plans for all of your feats though, then around the end game the -4 attack penalty won't hurt you too much unless you have a really low Too Hit.

As a note though, are you a Sword and Board Fighter, or a Two Weapon Fighter? If your a Two Weapon Fighter, Visty makes a good point about using Khopeshs over Barstard Swords. If you are a Sword and Board, then it is clearly another story.

[ReaperAlexEU]

take the bastard sword feat now, it will make a massive difference at low levels and they are a lot cheaper to buy when your new.

when your rich and famous consider swapping it for the superior kopesh if you want the best single target DPS and can afford to buy them.

when your capped with all the best gear you can look at dropping all exotic feats if your confident the -4 wont break your build. its been advised before when TWF builds ignore oversized TWF, however i believe that was before epic content and many builds struggle to hit in epic, especially if they have ignored their to-hit in such ways.

also just to echo the rest, why do you need to skimp on a feat for a fighter? they have massive amounts of feats compared to every other class.

if your thinking of making a tank, stop. go read up on tank builds and be warned it can be very rare gear intensive. a DPS build is much easier, lots of damage and lots of hit points.

[Angelus_dead]

I was wondering, should I make a fighter WITHOUT the Bastard Sword feat but use the sword anyways? Is -4 attack penalty all that much or is it too much?
By the way, probably your best option is to not use any exotic weapon at this time, and instead use whatever good rapier, scimitar, kukri, pick, sword, or axe you can get your hands on. As a new player, the magical properties of the weapon will probably outweigh exactly what kind of weapon it is.