Hi everyone,
I'm trying to create a defensive character that forms a "wall" between the enemy and his allies. My interest was peaked when observing these two feats:
You can stop foes that try to move past you.
Prerequisites: Combat Reflexes.
Benefit: When a foe provokes an attack of opportunity due to moving through your adjacent squares, you can make a combat maneuver check as your attack of opportunity. If successful, the enemy cannot move for the rest of his turn. An enemy can still take the rest of his action, but cannot move. This feat also applies to any creature that attempts to move from a square that is adjacent to you if such movement provokes an attack of opportunity.
You range across the battlefield, dealing with threats wherever they arise.
Prerequisites: Combat Reflexes, Mobility, base attack bonus +5.
Benefit: As a full-round action, you may set up a combat patrol, increasing your threatened area by 5 feet for every 5 points of your base attack bonus. Until the beginning of your next turn, you may make attacks of opportunity against any opponent in this threatened area that provokes attacks of opportunity. You may move as part of these attacks, provided your total movement before your next turn does not exceed your speed. Any movement you make provokes attacks of opportunity as normal.
My plan is to equip my character with a reach weapon in order to increase my range of threatened squares while wearing armor spikes to cover the adjacent squares. I noticed that Stand Still only covers adjacent squares, not simply threatened squares, so the halting combat maneuver will only work with the armor spikes.
I realize that the Stand Still feat isn't perfect, but I figure it lets me do something with a reach weapon and armor spikes that I would otherwise have a hard time accomplishing. Right now, I'm on the fence as to whether to carry a polearm for 10 feet or a whip for 15 feet. I realize the whip will need a feat unless I went rogue or bard (and I'm not sure how they'll work out). The reach weapon would probably be used to trip or disarm incoming opponents (and yes, I realize these combat maneuvers do not work for every creature in the Bestiaries). I think it would be best to use either a fighter for all the extra feats or a barbarian for the extra speed boost. If I have a whip, it also means I get to have a shield for a little more personal AC.
I would love to hear other's opinions on this. I know I can probably tweak this more, but I'm not seeing it at the moment. I'm trying to stick with the Core Rulebook and the Advanced Player's Guide because that's all I have. No third party or fanmade stuff, please, but I'm willing to hear other Paizo products. I just hope to make a "defender of the weak" without defaulting to the ol' sword and board standby. Thanks!
The wall defender is one of the funnest characters to play in the game. Your wizard will love you in that nothing will get close enough to him to interfere with his casting and you almost always provide the rogue someone to flank with.
One of the best ways I see to "tweak" this build is to play as the polearm master variant in the apg. By second level, you will be able to shorten the grip of your polearm as an immediate action to be a true menace to those enemies adjacent to you. Instead of trip, I would take overrun and combine it with cleave. This will allow you to blast through the front line of your enemies, stand in the center, and then let the carnage commence. Also, you could take the feat lunge that would further increase the threat range of your polearm and combat patrol.
To increase your survivability, I would go into Stalwart Defender at lvl. 8. This will increase your ac and give good bonuses to str and con. Also it will go along with your defensive oriented theme.
Hi everyone,
I'm trying to create a defensive character that forms a "wall" between the enemy and his allies. My interest was peaked when observing these two feats:** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
My plan is to equip my character with a reach weapon in order to increase my range of threatened squares while wearing armor spikes to cover the adjacent squares. I noticed that Stand Still only covers adjacent squares, not simply threatened squares, so the halting combat maneuver will only work with the armor spikes.
I realize that the Stand Still feat isn't perfect, but I figure it lets me do something with a reach weapon and armor spikes that I would otherwise have a hard time accomplishing. Right now, I'm on the fence as to whether to...
Check out Rogue Eidolon's Fighter guide in the pathfinder SRD, his defender of the weak build will definitely give you some ideas.