I'm contemplating a character build for something solo I'm running during my downtime. Mostly just a hack and slash thing, since I'm otherwise writing the story as I go, having to play both sides and all. I've reached an impasse, though.
My character is a dwarf tasked with guarding his small village from orcs and goblins and other things that don't like the dwarves too much. Since he's literally a guard I figured the Stalwart Defender would be a good choice for a prestige class and I really like the things it offers. But I'm not entirely sure if it's worth it to lose the stuff I'd get from just going straight fighter, or perhaps a variant fighter.
As it stands, my dwarf is only level 2, and my DM has very graciously allowed me to switch things around as needed because he's pretty much the best DM ever. I want to focus on reach weapons, but can't decide on a plan between the polearm master from the Advanced Player's Handbook, a pure fighter, or a stalwart defender. Any advice on what might be better for a solo campaign?
I think I'm gonna avoid the paladin class, despite how much better it would probably be for solo play. Just magic in general is on my avoiding list for the moment. I will check out some of these other things, though, thanks. Dwarfy things are pretty cool for my Dwarf hero, which is what made me consider the Stalwart Defender, which is basically just a free for all version of the Dwarf thing from 3.5. I liked the extra AC, and the interesting version of Rage, and there's also a Defensive Power that keeps people from approaching me if I hit them with one of my AoOs. The polearm master gets extra attack on AoOs and readied actions, though, and a couple neat talents to boot. The basic fighter also gets some extra AC in the form of an increased Dex bonus, and allows me to pick up all the nifty high level fighter feats. Now it sounds like I have more stuff to consider, though!
Phalanx fighter 3, oracle 1 with lame curse, then rest fighter until you get stalwart defender. Every round you can leave and restart your stance without fatigue, and you threaten 10 and 5 feat. Really tough and hard to take down. Particularly with bulwark powers...
As a person who made a Two-Handed Fighter guide, which you can find here, I absolutely recommend going Full Fighter. The issue with multi-classing is not only putting off your other abilities, but since the Fighter's best abilities are at 20th level (Weapon Mastery is beautiful), it's difficult to find a class whose 1st or 2nd level dip supersedes what the delayed progression and permanently lost progression can provide.
That isn't to say that multi-classing can't be done, but that such things need to be carefully considered and calculated if you want the build to be strong and/or effective.
This is a Party-Leader Fighter I created using my guide, who I believe is very self-reliant, and is perhaps something I think you are looking for.
I like the Viking Archetype Fighter.
As a person who made a Two-Handed Fighter guide, which you can find here, I absolutely recommend going Full Fighter. The issue with multi-classing is not only putting off your other abilities, but since the Fighter's best abilities are at 20th level (Weapon Mastery is beautiful), it's difficult to find a class whose 1st or 2nd level dip supersedes what the delayed progression and permanently lost progression can provide.
That isn't to say that multi-classing can't be done, but that such things need to be carefully considered and calculated if you want the build to be strong and/or effective.
This is a Party-Leader Fighter I created using my guide, who I believe is very self-reliant, and is perhaps something I think you are looking for.
That's right. The combination I suggested above was terribly effective against a high level party of 4. The dwarven stalwart defender could cycle through his stance and thus have his powerful features available every round, buffed his AC with shield of faith, threatened 5' and 10' and was really hard to bring down thanks to his excellent saves and other defenses.
So this is one combination that I can attest to to WORK :-P
The Stonelord Paladin archetype replaces spells with defensive stance. It wil also let you stance-cycle with the fatigue mercy.
Going full Stonelord will probably be a better deal than entering Stalwart Defender and it will have the same feeling. Alterantively, Stonelord 4 / Unbreakable Fighter 3 / Stalwart Defender is good starting combination that will give you access to Defensive Stance at lvl 4 and the Stalwart feat at lvl 5.
I see that now, yeah. That's actually a really cool concept. Even without spells, though, the Stonelord is still pretty magical. I was originally going for a completely mundane hero, but the Stonelord is tempting enough that I might just rewrite that.
The issue with multi-classing is not only putting off your other abilities, but since the Fighter's best abilities are at 20th level (Weapon Mastery is beautiful), it's difficult to find a class whose 1st or 2nd level dip supersedes what the delayed progression and permanently lost progression can provide.
Is Weapon Mastery all that great? Automatically confirming crits and an inability to be disarmed are nice, sure, but I think I could live without them. Both of those events are fairly rare as it is, and they aren't always difficult checks to pass, even then. The bonus to my crit multiplier is nice, but again, criticals are a fairly rare event, so I don't know if it's worth planning for really impressive ones.
The Stonelord Paladin archetype replaces spells with defensive stance. It wil also let you stance-cycle with the fatigue mercy.
Going full Stonelord will probably be a better deal than entering Stalwart Defender and it will have the same feeling. Alterantively, Stonelord 4 / Unbreakable Fighter 3 / Stalwart Defender is good starting combination that will give you access to Defensive Stance at lvl 4 and the Stalwart feat at lvl 5.
I see that now, yeah. That's actually a really cool concept. Even without spells, though, the Stonelord is still pretty magical. I was originally going for a completely mundane hero, but the Stonelord is tempting enough that I might just rewrite that.
The issue with multi-classing is not only putting off your other abilities, but since the Fighter's best abilities are at 20th level (Weapon Mastery is beautiful), it's difficult to find a class whose 1st or 2nd level dip supersedes what the delayed progression and permanently lost progression can provide.Is Weapon Mastery all that great? Automatically confirming crits and an inability to be disarmed are nice, sure, but I think I could live without them. Both of those events are fairly rare as it is, and they aren't always difficult checks to pass, even then. The bonus to my crit multiplier is nice, but again, criticals are a fairly rare event, so I don't know if it's worth planning for really impressive ones.
It's a hell of a lot better than Armor Mastery, I can tell you that much.
I only cited Weapon Mastery as an example of what one would miss out on by the endgame. (Of course, I'm assuming that people do try to play towards the endgame. I am aware that not all games are like that.)
I wrote a FAQ question in my guide about this same situation, and here's what it says:
In the grand scheme of things, the Fighter's most powerful features revolve around staying in their own class for the whole 20 levels. That isn't to say that the Fighter does not receive good features until they spend all of their character levels into Fighter, but it's important to see class features as a level threshold to receive the listed benefits. For example, Going 15 levels Fighter and 5 level Cleric, in truth, is silly because you are losing out on some very important class features (for both classes). Adjusting the example slightly and inversing the class types, spending 19 levels Cleric and 1 level Fighter is a great investment, as that Cleric receives an extra Feat, all kinds of Proficiencies, extra hit points, enhanced Fortitude Saves, all for the cost of a delayed spell level progression (that does not cut off any access to spells, only the net limit), and their Channel Energy Class Feature is delayed as well. No real net amount is lost (except for spell slots, which isn't a major loss compared to what is gained).
On an equally related note, the Developers also said that not many characters in the oldschool days of D&D (which this game is based off of) went for the whole 20 levels of a class (because there was not much benefit for doing so), and they decided to give more of an incentive for players to do so.
@ strayshift: The Weapon Mastery feature, in my opinion, is the best feature for a Fighter when you focus on Critical Hits. The "Ultimate Fighter" I built using the same guide has a 15-20 X3 Nodachi. The Party-Leader Fighter has a 19-20 X5 Scythe. Both of which come with auto-confirmation, (and the former has some of the strongest critical feats in the game).
When one does not decide to take a liking to criticals (my Mobile Fighter in this other game), Weapon Mastery can seem fairly weak and can be ditched (especially when you don't plan to reach it). And in those cases, if you can find a more powerful substitution (like you just did), then it can be worthwhile to multi-class. But as I've said before, it takes quite a bit of calculation and planning for it to pay off.
Alright, I get ya. I'm not a huge fan of the criticals myself 'cause I tend to have really bad luck and prefer to spend my focus on steadier things. It's true that they really did incentivize putting a full 20 levels into your base class, though. Not only did they fill up every level of every class with things, but they did add "capstones" to things, too (to take a phrase from your guide). Furthermore, prestige classes are actually really uncommon, with a greater emphasis put on class archetypes instead of something you have to build into.
3.5 was way different by comparison, where not only are you likely to shift into a prestige class as soon as possible, you might multiclass into multiple prestige classes, which got pretty silly sometimes. My last 3.5 character was a wizard/master specialist/fighter/rune smith/effigy master, I think, and I believe he managed all that by the time he was level 10. (Edit: forgot that I took a level of fighter for heavy armor proficiency)
So with my random tangent over, I've been playing my Dwarf Fighter a bit more. He's level 3 now, just a pure fighter is what I went with, and he's really tearing up those orcs, taking on 30 at a time thanks to his ability to kill a lot of them before they reach melee (I have a few of them throw javelins sometimes, but my AC is actually 24 now with the first level of Armor Training and some Full Plate, so they're really not very likely to hit me). Once they get into melee range, though, I really run out of things I can use to deal with that. I'm stuck to taking a five foot step back and swinging once a turn. I've considered just taking Cleave instead, which should theoretically let me get multiple hits in a turn as well. You mentioned in your guide, Darksol, that it's better to refeat the thing at higher levels? When and why does Cleave stop being useful?
Alright, I get ya. I'm not a huge fan of the criticals myself 'cause I tend to have really bad luck and prefer to spend my focus on steadier things. It's true that they really did incentivize putting a full 20 levels into your base class, though. Not only did they fill up every level of every class with things, but they did add "capstones" to things, too (to take a phrase from your guide). Furthermore, prestige classes are actually really uncommon, with a greater emphasis put on class archetypes instead of something you have to build into.
3.5 was way different by comparison, where not only are you likely to shift into a prestige class as soon as possible, you might multiclass into multiple prestige classes, which got pretty silly sometimes. My last 3.5 character was a wizard/master specialist/rune smith/effigy master, I think, and I believe he managed all that by the time he was level 10.
So with my random tangent over, I've been playing my Dwarf Fighter a bit more. He's level 3 now, just a pure fighter is what I went with, and he's really tearing up those orcs, taking on 30 at a time thanks to his ability to kill a lot of them before they reach melee (I have a few of them throw javelins sometimes, but my AC is actually 24 now with the first level of Armor Training and some Full Plate, so they're really not very likely to hit me). Once they get into melee range, though, I really run out of things I can use to deal with that. I'm stuck to taking a five foot step back and swinging once a turn. I've considered just taking Cleave instead, which should theoretically let me get multiple hits in a turn as well. You mentioned in your guide, Darksol, that it's better to refeat the thing at higher levels? When and why does Cleave stop being useful?
For most characters, Cleave is an unneeded feat tax, and in order for it to be worthwhile later down the road, alike with Vital Strike, you need to invest in all of the corresponding feats; Dwarves do even more so, but their Racial Feats in terms of Cleave are very powerful in circumventing some of the restrictions in making the Cleave Action. Those feats spent being great at clearing mooks subtracts from the Two-Handed Fighter's ability to have great, consistent single-target damage.
If there was a Two-Handed Fighter who would be great at multiple targets, it would be a Dwarf with all of the Cleave feats.