The basic premise of this build is get a lot of DR/- through Fighting Defensively with Stalwart + Greater, and later using the Stalwart Defender's DR (which stacks with Adamantine DR) to get DR6 at lvl2, DR11 at lvl11, DR15 at lvl12, DR17 at lvl14, DR19 at lvl17
Fighter (Unarmed Fighter) 3 / Cavalier: Order of the Shield 4 / Stalwart Defender 10 brings you to level 17. You can choose where to go from there.
1-Cautious Fighter, B:Improved Unarmed Strike, B:Crane Style
2-Stalwart
3-Dodge
5-Toughness
7-Endurance
9-Horse Master (forget the name, makes mount scale with level)
11-Greater Stalwart
At level 12, you gain DR 1 from Stalwart Defender, which stacks with DR from the Stalwart feat. It also specifically mentions that it stacks with Adamantine Armour DR, so level 12 is when you can buy Adamantine armour.
Unarmed Fighter wrote: Tough Guy (Ex): At 3rd level, an unarmed fighter gains DR/— equal to half his fighter level against nonlethal damage or damage taken while he is grappled. This ability replaces armor training 1. Cavalier: Order of the Shield wrote: Resolute (Ex): At 2nd level, whenever the cavalier takes damage from a melee or ranged attack while wearing heavy armor, the cavalier can convert 1 point of lethal damage to 1 point of nonlethal damage. He can use this ability once each time he takes damage. This ability cannot be used to convert ability damage, ability drain, or energy damage to nonlethal damage. At 6th level, and every four levels thereafter, the amount of damage the cavalier can convert increases by 1. Stalwart Defender wrote:
Stalwart Defender wrote: At 5th level, a stalwart defender gains DR 1/—. At 7th level, this DR increases to 3/—, and at 10th level it increases to 5/—. Damage reduction from different sources does not stack; however, a stalwart defender of 5th or higher level that gains DR from armor (but not from any other source) increases his class-based DR by the value of the armor’s DR. Thus a 7th-level stalwart defender wearing adamantine full plate (DR 3/—) has DR 6/—.
It's a Halfling, which gets +Cha + Dex -Str.
I think that Daring Champion would be the best Archetype.
Unfortunately, both Unarmed Fighter and Daring Champion lose Heavy Armour Proficiency, which is a requirement for the Resolute ability to activate. That's what the Armoured Kilt is for!
This would edit the level progression to Cavalier 2 / Fighter 3 / anything 2 / Stalwart Defender 2.
Also the OP's DR numbers are slightly wrong: DR5 at lvl1, DR6 at lvl5
I didn't realize the Prerequisites of Stalwart: Diehard, Endurance, base attack bonus +4. Keep this in mind; I'll rearrange feats at the end of this post.
It's a Halfling, which gets +Cha + Dex -Str.
I think that Daring Champion would be the best Archetype.
Unfortunately, both Unarmed Fighter and Daring Champion lose Heavy Armour Proficiency, which is a requirement for the Resolute ability to activate. That's what the Armoured Kilt is for!
This would change the level progression to Cavalier 2 / Fighter 3 / CHOICE 2 / Stalwart Defender 2. The OP's DR numbers are changed due to the new feat/class progression: DR5 at lvl4, DR6 at lvl5
Cvlr1-Endurance, B:Pack Attack
Cvlr2-
Ftr1-Diehard, B:Improved Unarmed Strike, B:Crane Style
Ftr2-Stalwart, B:Cautious Fighter
Ftr3-Toughness
6-
7-Dodge
SD1-
SD2- free feat slot
SD3-
SD4-Greater Stalwart
You might be able to use level 6 and 7 to get Weapon Focus as a bonus feat, then you can take Slashing Grace at level 9.
I just realized: using Dexterity to A/D is not a great idea when Stalwart Defender increases Strength. The build still stands, just that it kinda sucks with a racial Strength penalty.
You could go Human with Racial Heritage (Halfling), but I don't even know if that would actually be better :\
Cavalier 2 / Fighter 3 / Cavalier 2 / Stalwart Defender 10
Cvlr1-Endurance, B:Pack Attack
Cvlr2-
Ftr1-Diehard, B:Improved Unarmed Strike, B:Crane Style
Ftr2-Stalwart, B:Cautious Fighter
Ftr3-Toughness
Cvlr3-
Cvlr4-Dodge
SD1-
SD2-Horse Master
SD3-
SD4-Greater Stalwart
I thought up a cool archetype abuse strategy: the Emissary archetype lets you choose a different bonus feat when you gain one. This is supposed to be for the normal Cavalier bonus feats gained at 5th, 10th, etc. but it also unintentionally applies to any specific bonus feats gained from other archetypes.
Covert Operator wrote: I thought up a cool archetype abuse strategy: the Emissary archetype lets you choose a different bonus feat when you gain one. This is supposed to be for the normal Cavalier bonus feats gained at 5th, 10th, etc. but it also unintentionally applies to any specific bonus feats gained from other archetypes. Generally, class features that refer to bonus feats only apply to bonus feats from that class. Class features never affect stuff from other classes unless they specifically say so (like Uncanny Dodge and animal companions).
I think you'd have to get your GM drunk before they let this fly.
Ah, but I meant that Emissary affects the specific bonus feats of other Cavalier archetypes.
The only stacking one that works I can find so far is the Honor Guard. They get Bodyguard as a bonus feat at level 3. I was thinking that would be combined with Emissary to take Endurance as a 3rd level bonus feat, which would free up a slot for a defensive feat in this starving build.
Now I'm thinking the best route for combat would be Firearms; Sadly that is also going to be lacking at low level because there are only two free feat slots: one at level 1 or 3, and one at level 9.
Anyway; the archetypes you could take are Musketeer and Luring Cavalier, or Dune Drifter.
Thinking about expanding the scope of this. The Stalwart Defender will get the highest DR at high level, because they get to stack class DR with Adamantine Armour DR.
Other classes get DR much earlier, which you might prefer.
Off the top of my head, Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager) is one of the most powerful archetypes of the Barbarian anyway, and it's even better with this build.
You could go Pain Taster instead, which gains 1 DR every 2 levels.
Bloodrager gets pretty bad DR progression: 1 at 7th +1 per 3 lvls.
Bolstered Resilience + Rebuffing Reduction can get pretty crazy once you get Improved Stalwart (Bolstered Resilience maxes out at 20, but the DR for nonlethal always triggers, making it DR 21/-)
For all the non-Stalwart Defender builds (so armour DR won't stack), drop 16,600 on a Hero's Hauberk. A Skald would be cool with this build; You might even be more effective dropping the whole convert to nonlethal then resist it thing.
Nice work. This is pretty damn similar to a build I'm working on, with a Dwarf Stonelord Paladin instead of a Halfling Fighter/Cavalier. I like the cavalier's "convert to nonlethal" idea though, that will help reduce the damage even further. Stonelord is well-suited to the Stalwart feat chain, and builds into the Stalwart Defender prestige class beautifully.
Actually, Stalwart Defender and Stonelord don't synergize well at all. Your first level of SD will grant you nothing but two more rounds of Defense, and there aren't many actually good Defense powers so you could get the good powers from Stonelord without SD levels.
Going straight Stonelord is better, if only for the Stone Servant progression.
Stalwart + Improved Stalwart + Bolstered Resilience + Crane Wing + Cautious Fighter + Rebuffing Reduction =
DR10 against all attacks, DR20 against 1 attack, get a free Bull Rush attempt if they fail to beat your DR. Great for a reach build, and can interrupt a full-attack!
Game Master, keep in mind while building your Stonelord that there are 4 races which can qualify for it:
Dwarf (obvs)
Human (Racial Heritage)
Aasimar (Scion of Humanity and Racial Heritage)
Oread (Dwarf-Blooded; Debatable)
Oh look, the Stalwart Defender has a Defensive Power that increases Damage Reduction while in stance. Minimum 6th level to take, can be taken twice.
DR16 at lvl13, DR17 at lvl14, DR18 at lvl15, DR21 at lvl17
Fighter (Armor Master) duplicates the Stalwart Defender's trick of stacking Adamantine armor with its own class DR, which allows stacking with Stalwart (not Stalwart Defender!)
It would seem like the combination, then, arguably, is Fighter (Armor Master) + Adamantine Heavy Armor (Full Plate?) + Stalwart.
Here's my problem with it. Stalwart specifically calls out DR from any other source besides class abilities. So it refuses Adamantine armor's DR.
It might be best to run a Barbarian (maybe Invulnerable Rager?) and take the rage power "Improved Damage Reduction" a the allowable three times. That'd get you to a cool DR 9/- when raging, or DR 14/- with Improved Stalwart.
The other problem / question I have with this build is that you are potentially wasting AC and the feats that generate them. Stalwart and Improved Stalwart allow you to trade your dodge bonus for up to DR 5/- (or 10/- with Improved). But you still lose that whole dodge bonus. Why have feats that maximize it when you only need to be gaining a +5 dodge bonus maximum?
I could definitely get the Dodge bonus higher. Easy!
However, the current dodge bonus is +5. The bonus from the Dodge feat doesn't apply to Stalwart.
2 base
+1 Crane Style
+2 Cautious Fighter
Also, I think that Armor Master + Adamantine + Stalwart works, because Stalwart DR saying it doesn't stack with anything but Class DR/- is two clauses:
1- it stacks with class DR
2- it doesn't stack with any other DR
Part 2 is just a reminder of how DR works normally. This is following a precedent; Many abilities that grant DR describe how it works in the ability, especially if there is some way they work differently than other DR
Fighter (Armor Master) 5
Use a Madu (decreases penalty for FD to -2, reduces CE penalty by 1 (minimum 1))
Trait: Threatening Defender (reduce CE penalty by 1)
1 Endurance
1b Diehard
2b Combat Expertise
3 Cautious Fighter
4b Stalwart
5 Bolstered Resilience
^^
Stalwart will provide 4 DR, Armor Master will Provide 3, and Adamantine Armor will provide 3. CE will give you a +2 bonus to AC for no penalty.
Blundering Defense
Draconic Defender
A Halfling with Toughness and Con 17 can have both of these feats!
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