Joshua Fairfield's page

Meat Sheild wrote:

Ok, I'm just gonna lay this out I was looking for some tips on how to improve my dwarf were-bear fighter. He is a hammer & boarded build. I've looked thru Tons of feats and yet so few where found for the defensive angle. So, I was looking for some one to help me out? Two main Ideas came to my head, 1st was a feat that allowed to block one attack per round with a shield bash attack if aware of it(Shield Defense) and the 2nd is a feat that allowed a bearer of any shield a spell resistance of 10 plus the shield's TOTAL shield bonus(Spell Barrier). Any help who be greatful! Btw my DM is very pro-home brewed as long as it is balanced and not overpowered.

Btw I'm also Meat Sheild

This is a problem we have worked a lot with. The core difficulty is that armor does not scale as abilities do, so classes that can bring two or three abilities to bear on armor class can out tank tanks at medium level.

Our solution was a melée version of Missile Shield, which we call Full on the Shield, sharing the same prerequisites, but only useable once per encounter. And the damage from the absorbed blow is taken by the shield. It is a cool mechanic, and shields get splintered, and the fighter can tank again. We are thinking of adding similar feats that would permit blocks of cones and bursts that would chain from Ray Shield.

I wonder if I am missing something. I am extremely enthusiastic about the Inquisitor concept and most of the design.

But closed spell list classes are not a good idea. As a game expands, open spell list classes expand as well. Unless the designers are willing to do a class-by-class expansion of closed-list classes' access to new spells, the closed-spell-list class becomes playable only in campaigns that are limited to core rules. I wonder why Bulmahn got rid of assassins as hybrid casters (a move I applaud!) only to introduce many more classes in which spellcasting is a stand-in for flavorful crunch.

Of course, DMs can expand the list by fiat. But DMs can do anything, so that's no help.