MadE's page

Here's what may happen...

People might just pop up with a dozen suggestions telling you to play something you never intended to play in the first place. "Play a barbarian 'cause fighters suck", etc.

Ignore those. They may or may not be right about one being slightly better than the other, but the difference is negligible, especially in the hands of a new player. You've already told us what you want to play, so here's my thoughts:

For a brand new player, the most important thing is to keep gameplay as simple as possible so you can get to know the game's overall rules and facets. If you come up with a convoluted build with archetypes, hard to find feats, and the like, you'll be learning both the overall rules and your particular character's rules at the same time for a long time. With simplicity, you will learn your character quickly and have all the more time to learn the general rules and interactions, which take much longer to master.

The Weapon Focus/Specialization tree of feats are a nice place to start as a beginner. Why?

Mainly, because they are CONSTANT attack/damage bonuses. Unlike rages from a barbarian or favored enemies from a ranger or anything else, these bonuses are always in play as long as you're wielding that type of weapon. Trust me, for a beginner, this is a big deal. I can't tell you how many times I have forgotten about bonus damage from one source or another because it was only temporary. It stacks with weapon training, which you get for free, so you might as well specialize.

Now, I see half-orc. One thing that makes me think of is "scary". They come with a nice +2 to intimidate.

Weapon Focus gives access to the Dazzling Display feat. This lets you intimidate in a burst. The Disheartening Display feat (from the advanced player's guide) lets you stack this up for extra bonuses. This isn't really necessary, so if you want to keep it mega-simple, don't worry about it. I just mention it because you've already got that bonus to intimidate from being orc....

Wow. So much info! Thanks! :)

Archetypes are off limits for the time being.

Basically, I just want to build my character like a tank. Take damage and deal damage (lots preferably). I've already been an inquisitor and a barb. Basically I got both of them killed. haha. (My barb was actually one shot in the very first game (but I was allowed a mulligan) :D

So yeah. Hit hard. Take damage. That is my main focus I guess.

First you need to decide what you're trying to do with this character. I'm assuming you want to hit things really hard with a stick; you essentially just need Power Attack for this if you're using a 2-handed weapon. This leaves you with a ton of feats to do other stuff with.

TGTG has a nice idea with the intimidate build for a half-orc. Unfortunately, fighters are... not terribly good at it. They have no reason to invest in charisma and receive a paltry two skills per level; if you're intimidating you're not doing anything else. If the intimidate build interests you, you might want to look into the Slayer. You get six skill points per level so you have a lot more flexibility and will get to spend a lot more of your time doing things in the session.

I'm liking a lot of those feats. But not many of them focus on bonuses to attack strength? (unless I'm missing something?

The feats I originally planned on were:
Power Attack
Cleave
Improved Critical
Tower Shield Proficency (I guess I should've mentioned this, I planned to have a tower shield and a bastard sword (Unless you know of better?)
Shield Focus
Exotic Weapon Proficiency
Missile Shield
Skill Focus
Throw Anything (Was kinda just thrown in there, I'm still unsure whether it'll make the cut)
Weapon focus
11th to be decided still.

First you need to decide what you're trying to do with this character. I'm assuming you want to hit things really hard with a stick; you essentially just need Power Attack for this if you're using a 2-handed weapon. This leaves you with a ton of feats to do other stuff with.

TGTG has a nice idea with the intimidate build for a half-orc. Unfortunately, fighters are... not terribly good at it. They have no reason to invest in charisma and receive a paltry two skills per level; if you're intimidating you're not doing anything else. If the intimidate build interests you, you might want to look into the Slayer. You get six skill points per level so you have a lot more flexibility and will get to spend a lot more of your time doing things in the session.

Yeah, as I said above, I'm planning to focus on taking damage, and hitting really hard (which is why I chose the above feats originally). I wasn't really focusing on intimidate, I actually believe I switched out that ability... Yeah, I believe I chose an alternative racial trait 'Evader), which gave me a bonus to survival checks.

Errant_Epoch wrote:

Leveling guide list

No improved critical?

Also with regards to the OP Fighter is a nice simple class that you can build any way you like for combat. I suppose the question to ask is what kind of fighter do you want to build?

Are you upfront with a two handed weapon? Then Errant_Epoch or Greenteagamer have provided some good advice. Just remember to also have a light slashing weapon as you are in the level range for swallow whole to be an issue.

Are you planning to fire arrows from afar? Are you going for the traditional sword and shield? If so those require different builds and feats. Some more information about what you want to do is nice.

Also remember the mundane gear. It's nice to have your flashy +2 sword but that won't help you sleep outdoors like a winterblanket or tent will. Sure the wizard can cast fly to get you out of that pit trap or you could throw a rope up to your allies if you aren't in combat. You could try to remember your way out or you could mark corridors with a piece of chalk. Mundane gear is often forgotten.

I included Improved Critical in my original design, and I still think I'll be keeping him.

thegreenteagamer wrote:

Spiked armor usually covers the "swallow whole" gamut nicely.

True. Depends on the way the character goes. I typically don't have the armor spikes if I am playing good face characters.

Though if you are planning on getting heavy armor make sure you also own an armored coat. You never know when you will have a raid at night where you can't put on that lovely full plate.

That would actually be pretty awesome! :D

But yeah. I'm just having a hard time deciding what details... :D

Thanks for all the suggestions, and please feel free to keep them coming! :)