| Rocky Williams 530 |
Howdy. I had an idea for an armored powerhouse. High ac, DR, able to take some punishment. I like the armored fighter archetype. Especially it's stacking with adamantine DR. But I know a fighter had to be able to dish out damage or else he's not much use. Any advice on feats and tactics? He's going to be human and I rolled 18 17 17 13 13 10 as the stats, and is starting at 5th level. Any advice would be appreciated.
| Major_Blackhart |
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Well, with stats like those, you might want to consider other races (or if you want stick with human, but I'm a bit of a nut for Half-Orc fighters myself).
I suggest with Half-Orc, should you choose him, to take the following alternate racial trats:
Replace Intimidate with Shaman's Apprentice (Gain endurance as a bonus feat)
Replace Orc Ferocity with one of the following: Sacred Tattoo (+1 Luck Bonus to all saving throws), Bestial (+2 Bonus on perception checks), or Beastmaster (+2 bonus on handle animal checks, plus whips and nets are martial weapons, which can both be used to great effect in debilitating enemies, as they're normally exotic weapons).
Replace Weapon Familiarity with Chain Fighter (better exotic weapons, though you'll still probably use a 1-hand weapon anyway because Armor masters get bonuses with shields).
Now, normally I'd suggest possibly getting something like Eldritch Heritage feats, but as an armor master, your abilities will be more focused on something else: two weapon fighting and shield bashing.
My suggestion for stat allocation are as follows:
Str 18, Dex 17, Con 17, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 10. This guy won't be a talker anyway, so Cha is a dump stat. Int and Wis are needed for possible feat entrances and will saving throws.
Feats:
I suggest following several different feat trees for your character if you go half-orc:
Deathless Route (Required feats Endurance, Diehard, Deathless Initiate, Ironhide, Deathless Master, Deathless Zealot) You won't fall down and enemies will have to re-roll successful criticals against you. Combined wiht Armor Master and their natural fortification abilities, you are insanely hard to take down by a critical specialist or weapon master. Not only that, but you already meet the constitution requirements.
Shield Bash Route (Required feats Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Shield Bash, Shield Slam, Shield Master, Bashing Finish** (not absolutely necessary but fun))
Weapon Focus Route (Required Feats Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Specialization)
(you'll want to go with a one handed weapon because of your shield. Now, whichever route you go you'll have to pick a weapon that matches your style. I always like Battleaxe. Simple, effective, damaging, and a great critical multiplier. But you might want higher critical chances and go longsword or scimitar. Or you might want more damage overall and go dwarven waraxe or bastard sword. Will cost you a feat or a trait, but that's your choice.)
Beyond that, as a half-orc, you'll be a front line fighter, so sticking around as long as possible is always necessary for you. The extra other feats you may want are as follows, as well as some obvious choices:
Power Attack, Resilient Brute, Tenacious Survivor, and Fight On.
Fight On grants you some temporary hit points when you hit zero or go below into negatives. It activates before Diehard and the early deathless stuff. Resilient Brute converts a successful critical against you (which will be extremely rare BTW) into half-damage half-nonlethal. Can be a major lifesaver if you're close to death. Tenacious Survivor guarantees that if you should die, a bit of healing and you'll pop back up again. With some negative levels yeah, but that can be removed by some work from a healer. It means that you won't have any of that other nastiness of having to pay for a resurrection spell etc.
Power Attack is self explanatory.
Now, if you go this route, you'll have the following feat requirements:
Deahtless Route - 5 feats (normally 6 but you take endurance as a bonus feat)
Shield Bash - 4-5 feats (depending on bashing finish)
Weapon Focus- 4 Feats
Power Attack, Resilient Brute, Tenacious Survivor, Fight On, Improved Critical, Critical Focus - 6 feats
So, 19 or 20 feats if I'm not mistaken.
You essentially have your unkillable tank. Your strategy will simply be to wade into the action, supported by spellcasters, and hit people until they are dead. You will not fall down, you will not falter, and even when brought into negative hit points, you will still keep going just as if you were at full health. You will even be able to have more hit points (as the half-orc stabilize bonus is useless with the Deathless tree I think, so you can simply take the normal HP bonus at each level).
Equipment: Anything that increases strength and constitution is a major plus. Anything that increases your saves is a major plus.
Other than that, for your magic weapon you'll want the following:
Example: Battleaxe: Adamantine, either +1 Furyborn of Speed, or if you can, a +5 of Speed. This guy is going to walk right up the someone and hit them until they die, so the more hits the better.
For your shield you'll want the following:
Example: Heavy Mithral Spiked Shield (with Adamantine spikes if possible), +X Bashing, . Bashind is a major + as it increases the damage by 2 sizes. Normally, I'd say this applies to the shield itself, but according to the NPC codex, it applies to the Spikes (dwarven barbarian with a bashing spiked shield did 2D6 damage, so it can be a nasty weapon. If your GM will allow it, you can enhance the spikes with Speed as well, so when you attack with your shield, you just keep whacking.
For your armor you'll want the following:
Example: Adamantine Full Plate, +X, and Expeditious, so you can get stuck in as quickly as possible. Other options would be Titanic if you wanted, for the size bonuses, but that's not necessary. For armor, you'll simply want as high a + as possible, and Adamantine no matter what. Damage Reduction stacks, so it's damn necessary.
Normally, other people would suggest Stalwart Defender. I don't. To get those bonuses, you give up too much offense, which the Armor Master is already lacking. plus, while they'll stack with your normal DR bonus from wearing armor, they won't stack with teh Adamantine Bonus, so in my opinion it would be a waste of at least two feats (Combat expertise and Stalwart Defender).
Beyond that? Boots of Speed or Boots of Striding and Springing. I'd prefer striding and springing personally because you won't benefit from the added effects of haste due to your weapon already having Speed on it. Amulet of Natural Armor is always a solid choice, and anything that can increase your will saves.
Seriphim84
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I know I am crazy but I am gonna advise nearly the opposite of what Major Blackheart did. Don't get me wrong, what he has will be the Superior combat beast. What I am suggesting is making him a knight...
Human Armor Master:
Str 18
Dex 13 (15 Human)
Con 17
Wis 10
Int 17
Cha 13
This guy is the hero. Yeah, others could kill better but he will protect his allies and will not fall to the hordes. He has a bit of that Youthful Innocence/arrogance about his skills but he is good at it.
Combat wise he has Shield bash, two weapon fighting and shield focus right from the get go. As he levels he will increase his Str (4), Dex (8, 16) and Con (12). While taking feats to protect himself and his allies:
2: Missle Shield
3: Iron Will
4: Combat Reflexes
5: Body Guard
6: Improved Two Weapon Fighting
7: In Harms Way
8: Improved Iron Will
9: Shield Slam
10: Ray Shield
11: Shield Master
12: Greater Two Weapon Fighting
And so on. Some think that he is a full, he is to hard to hit and to easy to ignore but the Knight know that if he is always foiling his enemies attempts to hit his allies then they will eventually fall.
For Magic he keeps the powerful Benevolent Armor that can add to his protection of his allies and boots of springing and striding. He keeps his keen sword on his hip to slice through his foes and a a belt of Dex/Str to keep his power up.
Edit: I forgot Power Attack but it can be added fairly easily. Also Growing up a Noble who trained with the City Guard he has the Traits Eyes and Ears of the city Honeyed Tongue. He uses his skill points to be personable, perceptive, agile and knowledgeable.
| Major_Blackhart |
Hmmm, well that's flavorful, if I may say so.
However, you seem to be pointing him towards the Knight more than the Fighter.
True, role reversal and all.
However, I like the route of giving his allies protection.
He could definitely be a good bodyguard for a caster if necessary.
My question is why is his intelligence so high?
| Rocky Williams 530 |
Thanks for the advice both of you! I'll probably be using some of Major_Blackhart's advice, as far as the shield bashing stuff at least. The character's back story was he had giant blood way back, which was why he was tall and strong. No mechanical benefits, but fun backstory. Well, my DM is working on a half-giant race, and we're going to make his giant ancestry far more recent. So, despite it sounding great, I won't be able to take the half-orc. Still, I think a half-giant smashing with a shield and large weapon should be sweet. Though I'll probably do a light shield instead of a heavy one. The -2 to attack he'd take using a heavy shield doesn't seem worth it to me, considering he doesn't have the fighter's weapon class abilities to give him further bonuses to attack.
Thanks for the help!
| Rocky Williams 530 |
Well, the half-giant race he made wound up not being large. Still, +2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int isn't bad stat modifiers. Has the human extra skill ability, but no extra feat. I think it'll be a pretty fun guy. We have a book available with extra feats in it, and one allows you to use weapons one size category higher with a -2, with a second feat getting rid of the -2 all together. It only works with one weapon though. Might just stick with standard sized weapons.
| Rocky Williams 530 |
This is the feat spread I've gone with. I think it'll be fun.
1 Improved Shield Bash
F1 Two Weapon Fighting
F2 Shaft and Shield
3 Near and Far
F4 Combat Reflexes
5 Lighten Weapon - Heavy Shield
F6 Improved Lighten Weapon - Heavy Shield
7 Power Attack
F8 Shield Slam
9 Weapon Focus Ranseur
F10 Weapon Specialization - Ranseur
11 Greater Weapon Focus Ranseur
F12 Shield Master
13 Dodge
F14 Greater Weapon Specialization - Ranseur
Shaft and Shield is from a 3rd party book, allows the ranseur (amongst a few others) to be used 1 handed. Near and Far allows reach weapons to attack adjacent squares. Lighten Weapon allows you to use a weapon as if it were 1 category lower at -2, Improved removes the -2. So the heavy shield counts as a light shield, lowering the attack penalty for the ranseur. Shield Master would remove the TWF penalties for the shield, but the ranseur would be at a -4 due to the heavy shield being a one handed weapon, not a light weapon.
Thanks for the advice, even if I didn't wind up using a lot of it. It got me on the shield attack track at least. I'm looking forward to next game night to see how this goes :)