Self-explanatory thread title.
It has occurred to me that one of the best offensive "tanks" would be a Shield Basher; one could use a single shield and two-hand it and be effective, but the thought of being able to onslaught an enemy with 7-8 attacks in a round with 2 shields while being an impenetrable force (i.e. high AC) is the ideal view of what a Martial should be.
However, the requirements for several of their feats makes it seem like the investments are too much to handle. I have considered going a Fighter build, and while they get more Bonus Feats to make this build work with any other generic set up (i.e. Iron Will, Improved Initiative, etc.), still has several very strong requirements they have to meet.
I have considered the Ranger, given that their bonus feats, while not plentiful, do not have any requirements to fulfill.
What are the community's thoughts on this?
Basically the feat you want for this is Shield Master and the name of the game is early access. If you are a fighter, thats 11th level before you will see this. A sword and board ranger though, gets it at 6th.
To me it really is no contest that the Ranger is the better entry (and then if you have some fighter goodies you want to pick up, go into fighter then).
prototype00
Ranger, weapon and shield combat style. Grab TWF at 2nd and Shield Master at 6th. Also make sure to grab Quick Draw and fight using Quickdraw Light Wooden/Steel Shields. After Ranger 6 you've gotten the two biggest things from your combat style, so it's a good point to consider multiclassing.
Basically the feat you want for this is Shield Master and the name of the game is early access. If you are a fighter, thats 11th level before you will see this. A sword and board ranger though, gets it at 6th.
To me it really is no contest that the Ranger is the better entry (and then if you have some fighter goodies you want to pick up, go into fighter then).
prototype00
Not only is it a long time in terms of feats, but as far as the pre-requisites are concerned for a TWF Shield Basher, it's almost impossible to have it work in your favor without giving yourself a super-high Dexterity (which, isn't bad, but not ideal).
However, I am unsure as to which Archetype I should choose, if I were to choose one. Is having Favored Enemy not as bad as I think it would be? I always find being good at only a selective few encounters is a bad perk to have in a game as diverse as this one.
Also, if I were to go Ranger for the first 6 levels, what would I possibly multiclass to, a Druid?
prototype00
Multiclassing fighter to get more feats, barbarian for rage powers, horizon walker lets you use your favored terrain bonus as a favored enemy bonus on everything from that terrain. As a few examples.
No archetype ranger is fine. If you don't like trying to guess favored enemies then Guide trades it away for the ability to mark a target to gain additional attack and damage against.
I hate to be that guy prototype00, but it'd be smarter to multi-class to Ninja than a Rogue. Back on topic...
Normally I'd be partial to multi-classing to Fighter for the feats to help out, but noticing the Urban Invulnerable Rager Barbarian combined archetype has me colored intrigued, considering A. I hardly ever multi-class, and B. Fighters are a terrible class to multi-class with if you're going to make it your primary focus.
So I have my Barbarian class set-up; however, my Ranger archetype is difficult to muster. I'm liking the Infiltrator archetype since I can get some very neat features from the Favored Enemies I select, though if I'm only getting 2 Favored Enemies (I'd figure a minimum of 11 for the Barbarian archetypes, since I get Greater Rage by that point; probably go 6 Ranger then 14 Barbarian), I'm not exactly sure what I can expect from them other than the use of the extra feats to get them, though the 19 Dex requirement from Greater TWF is daunting. It almost makes the build impossible to accomplish, now that I think about it...
On the topic of Barbarians, while I like the class features regarding the archetypes as they stand, it's difficult to determine which Rage Powers would be more suited to a Two-Shield Basher.
Ninjas count as Rogues anyway, alternate classes are just glorified archetypes.
For Barbarian, definitely get the beast totems all the way to greater. If you're going all the way for Greater TWF, then that means 7 attacks on the charge, 8 with a Haste effect going. Strength Surge lets you pretty much guarantee one combat maneuver per rage. The Lunge feat even lets you perform said combat maneuvers, or just attack, from outside threat range. You're probably going to see a lot of recommendations for the Superstition, Witch Hunter, Spell Sunder, and Eater of Magic rage power tree. I'm not sure how effective it will be coming in late like you are.
The 19 dex seems daunting, but do remember you can use a magic item to help qualify. Assuming you start with a 15 Dex at level 1, you only need a +4 Dex item by the level you want to grab Greater TWF. The Str bonus from Rage will help offset the need to buy a belt that boosts multiple ability scores.
Hmmm...I think I might've found the balance I was looking for. I'm not too happy about it, but I'll live
I decided to go with a 10/10 build. 10 Spirit Ranger Infiltrator, 10 Urban Invulnerable Barbarian. This way I can get the full TWF without having to commit with Dex. I miss some pretty neat Barbarian stuff, but the extra attack is something that an extra +2 for Rage, a Rage Power, and the rounds cannot give me.
Here's the other details; let me know what you think about them.
Race: Human most likely. I'm sure there is a better choice, but the bonus feat help with an already feat-intensive build, and the flexible attribute points is nice for a 20 Strength to start.
Hunter's Bond: As much as the other sort of bond would be nice to have, an Animal Companion is a better way to go, given the favored class bonus and what an Animal Companaion can do for me than half-favored enemy benefits to my other allies. As to which one I should get though...
Rage Powers: Full Beast Line totem, no questions asked.
Favored Enemies: Toughy, this one is. Will probably choose Undead first, Dragons second, and Constructs. (The 3 most powerful and challenging enemies besides Outsider subtypes.) As far as order in terms of strength goes, I'm not too sure. I'd need to figure that one out. Generally Dragons and Constructs will have the more armor and hit points, so I'll go Constructs first (more common to fight against, so better to increase this one), Dragons second, Undead third.
Stats: 20 Point Buy;
Strength 18+2
Dexterity 13
Constitution 13
Intelligence 8
Wisdom 13
Charisma 7
25 Point Buy;
Strength 18+2
Dexterity 14
Constitution 14
Intelligence 8
Wisdom 14
Charisma 7
All Stat Points go into Strength. (Possibly put a Stat Point in Wisdom for 20 Point Buy for access to all spells.)
With these stats I'll have great Strength, decent skill points/level (80 total, respectively, average 4 points/level not including items), some good hit points and Dex, plus am able to cast all of my spells without any further item investment. As well as decent Will Saves to start.
Progression: Probably start out with the 10 Ranger Levels first; Pounce is a nice feature, but it'll take 10 Levels before I can get it anyway.
Feats:
Human: Power Attack
1: Improved Shield Bash
2*: Two-Weapon Fighting
3: Shield Focus
3*: Endurance
5: Boon Companion
6*: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
7: Shield Slam
9: Weapon Focus (Heavy Shield)
10*: Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
11: Shield Master
13: Improved Bull Rush
15: Greater Bull Rush
17: Critical Focus
19: Improved Critical (Heavy Shield)
* = Bonus Feat
I don't think you can take Improved Critical for a Heavy Shield, but who knows. I thought about switching out the Bull Rush feats for Extra Rage Powers, should there be a more qualified line of Rage Powers I should invest in, but I believe giving my Animal Companion a bunch of AOOs is a smarter strategy and is sure to give me a much higher DPR.
Let me know what you think of it, and if I should change anything around.
Bump
I realized that I forgot about Double Slice, which would help out greatly with my damage dealing for my off-hand shield. However, it appears that too has a Dex 15 Requirement, so I'm unsure how to progress without it. (Maybe it's just TWF for a requirement, as the table suggests, and I'm just reading too much into it.)
Thoughts?