Hey guys, how is everyone on this lovely day?
I'm posting today to ask for your two copper in regards to building a frontliner who can hold the line to prevent baddies from getting to our highly squishy party.
I'll start with the composition of the party and then list the ideas I have.
1 Archer Ranger with a badger companion lvl. 5
1 Archer Fighter lvl.5
1 Wizard (Necromantic mostly)Lvl. 5
1 Armour Master fighter Lvl. 5
1 Sorcerer (Draconic)Lvl. 2
1 As of yet unknown member (my char's replacement
So let's assume the replacement is coming in around level 3, wants to be able to stand in the thick of the melee while preventing enemies from moving around him and can lay the hurt down on anyone who makes the mistake of approaching. I feel our Armour master is good for the job of taking hits, but without reach he can be bypassed.
I put together a sword and board fighter, mostly following Rogue Eidolons guide posted here. But I'm not sure if he's the best choice.
I haven't played as a fighter so I'm not sure if any archtypes sacrifice something really essential, would something like the Unbreakable or Phalanx fighter be better? Is fighter the wrong thing entirely and I should be looking at a druid or monk?
We roll for attribute scores so there's no reliable point buy.
TL:DR I'm looking for a melee frontliner who can threaten a wide range of space to protect my party's squishy people, preferably pretty optimized but he doesn't need to be highly min-maxed.
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Is the Antagonize feat allowed? If it is, there's your main way of preventing someone from being bypassed.
You could take the Antagonize feat and build a barbarian with the Come and Get Me and Groundbreaker/Greater Groundbreaker rage powers.
You draw your opponents in close, then destroy the ground all around them and prevent them from moving.
For style points, you can also take Scorpion Style (which isn't a style feat, oddly), and reduce a target's speed to 5', utterly preventing them from moving past you.
Also, take the Unexpected Strike rage power, the Combat Reflexes and Stand Still feats, etc. Building an aggro tank is actually pretty easy for a fighter or a barbarian if you know what you're doing.
Other options include the Step Up/Following Step/Step Up and Strike feat line. Keep your opponent threatened and stay in his face. Since your Intimidate check will be high, you can spend some rage powers on Intimidating Glare and Terrifying Howl. That way, you spend a move action and reduce a creature to shaken, so even if it does somehow get past you, it's still taking penalties to its rolls. Then, on your next turn, you move, and howl. As long as he hasn't managed to get out of your range (30 feet from where you moved, and you have Fast Movement), then he'll have to make a Will save (DC based on your Strength mod, and he has a -2 penalty from being shaken) or be panicked, as an extraordinary ability. So if somehow this guy gets out of your net and goes for the squishy casters, just howl and he'll drop his weapon and run away.
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Aden is a cavalier.
Specifically an order of the shield which gets an Improved Standstill type class ability.
Basically when you get an AOO, you hit the enemy as normal for damage+they stop moving.
Combine this with the Honor guard archetype and you get FREE bodyguard feat (use AOO to improve allies AC) and the ability to either get a + to hit your challenge, or stand next to a buddy and pump his AC is awesome.
Stratagist archetype lets you buff allies with Teamwork feats for longer duration.
Wanna protect allies indoors. Form a shield wall with the fighter in a 10 ft corridor. Awesome.
Plus, both your order and archetypes grant free movement to interrupt enemy moves via free immediate action charges.
AND you essentially get DR when you wear heavy armor (since non-leathal and leathal a both healed off the same die..eg if you have 5 leathal and 5 non-leathal then 5 healing cures ALL of it)
Your mount also can block foes and overrun enemies with training. (Use him as a flank buddy of have your squishy wizard ride him+cast while the horse stays out of enemy reach)
A TWF works best for burst DPR. Lots of attacks+challenge attack and damage bonus=win
A Phalanx Soldier Would be a good choice for this using a reach/trip weapon in 1 hand such as a guisarme or a horsechopper.
You can do a similar trick with a barbarian titan mauler but he suffers a -2 to hit with the weapon (trades out to rage fairly well.)
I would go with druid, since 2 bodies are better for forming a battle line than 1. Also any animal companion that has grab or trip does a better job of limiting movement than nearly any other option. Also druids are decent combatants on their own, and their spells are almost specialized in hampering movement.
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I would go with druid, since 2 bodies are better for forming a battle line than 1. Also any animal companion that has grab or trip does a better job of limiting movement than nearly any other option. Also druids are decent combatants on their own, and their spells are almost specialized in hampering movement.
Paladin works for this, too. Though it doesn't kick in until 5th level.
Either is also a good choice due to the serious lack of healing in your party.
Oh and forgot a Cleric of Gorum, so he can cover off healing when needed, and we have a life Oracle, their attendance is a bit spotty sometimes but the oracle's player gave permission for someone to play her while she's not around. So we have healing fairly well covered (but even more squishies to protect).
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phalanx fighter with stand still and combat reflexes. hold onto a reach weapon use a towershield, with a 3 dex and a chain shirt you could easily have a 23+ ac and a 25' diamiter for stopping movement. i played this charater, he was very awesome.
you get total cover so that means you can only be hurt by spells, and eveything that moves through your threatened range gets stopped in its tracks.
Combat Patrol and a tripping reach weapon (lucern hammer is good) are also a great combo.