my friend and I have a had a few character ideas we could do together and our favorite one is a member of royalty (a prince) and a kings guard cavalier that would serve as his mentor and protecter.
He would be playing as the battle hardened cavalier, who guides the prince and advises him in his decisions.
I will be playing as the rambunctious, and very proud prince that is still very young and new to the world at large. I was thinking of being a gendarme cavalier as that would fit his personality.
I actually have no idea what I'm asking for just some advice I suppose. Anything would help.
Well, since cavaliers often go for lances, I guess I will go on about reach builds for a bit (since I always love talking about them). Who doesn't like being a 25' wide circle of pain? Whether on foot or on mount, you can do a lot with a reach build.
With reach builds, power attack and combat reflexes are considered the main feats... but I also like to add lunge and pushing assault in order to master reach.
I know what you are thinking- Lunge doesn't increase your threatened area for AoOs. And you are correct. But it allows you to control distance and that positions you to get a lot more AoOs.
You see, when you normally attack with a reach weapon like a lance, the enemy ends up 10' away. That means that most enemies only need to take a 5' step to reach you- thus, you do not get an AoO against them and they can full attack. If you engage the enemy first, you cannot get an AoO against them, and you have to wait for the enemy to attack or move past you first.
With lunge however, enemies end up 15' away when you attack them. That means they need to move 10' to reach you. That is a regular move action, which means they draw an AoO and most likely lose their full attack. That is offense and defense in one feat. And you can attack first and still get an AoO against that opponent.
Pushing assault fulfills a similar role- it gets enemies into that sweet spot 15' away. If an enemy gets next to you (after eating an AoO), you can take a 5' step back, full attack them, and push them back 5' with pushing assault. That puts them into the sweet spot, and set them up for another AoO.
Another thing to note- with lunge and your 5' step, you can full attack anything in a 45' wide circle with a reach weapon. Not the biggest thing when you are on a mount (since you can charge and get a lot of damage with a lance), but still rather nice, especially when you are off your mount.
Overall, these tips, combined with a fortuitous weapon (mini full attack through an AoO 1/round, basically- make anyone messing with you feel a world of hurt), makes a highly effective martial build that takes advantage of long reach. It is something that I would not be surprised to see on an experienced soldier, and it is the kind of thing that should be trained into young nobles wishing for success in war.
Well, since cavaliers often go for lances, I guess I will go on about reach builds for a bit (since I always love talking about them). Who doesn't like being a 25' wide circle of pain? Whether on foot or on mount, you can do a lot with a reach build.
With reach builds, power attack and combat reflexes are considered the main feats... but I also like to add lunge and pushing assault in order to master reach.
I know what you are thinking- Lunge doesn't increase your threatened area for AoOs. And you are correct. But it allows you to control distance and that positions you to get a lot more AoOs.
You see, when you normally attack with a reach weapon like a lance, the enemy ends up 10' away. That means that most enemies only need to take a 5' step to reach you- thus, you do not get an AoO against them and they can full attack. If you engage the enemy first, you cannot get an AoO against them, and you have to wait for the enemy to attack or move past you first.
With lunge however, enemies end up 15' away when you attack them. That means they need to move 10' to reach you. That is a regular move action, which means they draw an AoO and most likely lose their full attack. That is offense and defense in one feat. And you can attack first and still get an AoO against that opponent.
Pushing assault fulfills a similar role- it gets enemies into that sweet spot 15' away. If an enemy gets next to you (after eating an AoO), you can take a 5' step back, full attack them, and push them back 5' with pushing assault. That puts them into the sweet spot, and set them up for another AoO.
Another thing to note- with lunge and your 5' step, you can full attack anything in a 45' wide circle with a reach weapon. Not the biggest thing when you are on a mount (since you can charge and get a lot of damage with a lance), but still rather nice, especially when you are off your mount.
Overall, these tips, combined with a fortuitous weapon (mini full attack through an AoO 1/round, basically- make anyone messing...
Wow Lemeres, thank you very much. That character seems like a very fun one. It would suit his personality very Well. What order do you think would best suit that fighting style of a gendarme cavalier?
Well, power attack and combat reflexes are the basics, so level 1 (to 3 for nonhumans)
Lunge comes about at level 7 for full BAB classes (6 if you have some kind of bonus feat).
Pushing assault....fits somewhere around there based on preferences. You also have to fit in mounted feats, so you might delay it for level 9 or later, if you grab it at all. The 'lets get 1-2 extra attacks AGAIN' thing is not as huge until the later levels anyway (since the first set of 1-2 extra 2 handed attacks already wrecked the guy, along with your full attacks).
Ah, just realized 'order' as in the class feature, not the feats. Hmmm... I would avoid ones that need you to be threatening, since you will want enemies just outside your natural threatened area.
Blue rose is nice, since you just need to say 'surrender now or I will be forced to take you down' and he gets a lot of morale bonus to his attacks. Similarly, Order of the Land or Order of the Shield have similar benefits and they can fit a young prince with good intentions towards his people.
Order of the Sword is good for attack bonuses too, but it is much more about staying mounted.
Order of the Flame for the 'combo kill for exponential damage and challenges in return for exponential AC penalties' works rather well since you often threaten to get at least 2 hits in before the enemy can even begin to reach you (and that is usually their higher BAB attack- no real change if that has a better chance to hit). This kind of reach build loves to make defense through terrifying offense. Plus, it can fit the personalty of a brash young prince trying to prove himself.