Crazy Earth Breaker Shenanigans - PFS Build

[LibraryRPGamer]

Hi everyone,

My PFS support bard is going to be level 3 soon so I am looking at options for a backup character. I'm wanting to try something totally different yet cinematically entertaining and mechanically versatile. Now, I've played a lot of big weapon smashing barbarians - I love the barbarian concept but always find that I am bored with simply attacking and rolling for damage.

So, I'm trying to revitalize the "barbarian" concept for myself with a build that can do many of the things we see big guys with big hammers do in the movies - knock enemies down, toss them across the battlefield, throw them into one another with one swing, etc. To accomplish this, I chose an Earth Breaker wielding Shoanti Lore Warden with the bull rush, trip, and the ki throw feat chains.

I have a basic idea for feats, but I need some advice for what to do with the upper levels. Also, is this build as versatile as I think it will be?

Human Fighter (Lore Warden):

STR 18, DEX 14, CHA 14, INT 13, WIS 11, CHA 7

Traits: Bred for War, Reactionary

1st - Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Unarmed Strike
2nd - Combat Expertise, Improved Trip
3rd - Ki Throw
4th - Improved Ki Throw
5th - Combat Reflexes
6th - Felling Smash
7th - Vicious Stomp
8th - Greater Bull Rush
9th - Greater Trip
10th - ????????
11th - ????????
12th - ????????

Thanks for the advice!

[EsperMagic]

There is always the Thunder and Fang feat.
Thunder and Fang (Combat)
You have mastered the ancient Shoanti Thunder and Fang fighting style, allowing you to fight with increased effectiveness when wielding an earth breaker and klar.

Prerequisite: Str 15, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (earth breaker), Weapon Focus (klar)

Benefit: You can use an earth breaker as though it were a one-handed weapon. When using an earth breaker in one hand and a klar in your off hand, you retain the shield bonus your klar grants to your Armor Class even when you use it to attack. Treat your klar as a light weapon for the purposes of determining your two-weapon fighting penalty.

Normal: An earth breaker is a two-handed weapon, preventing the use of a klar in one hand without imposing penalties for using the earth breaker one-handed. A klar can be used either as a one-handed weapon or a shield; it does not grant a bonus to AC during rounds in which it is used as a weapon.

Note nothing here technically says you can't now dual wield Earthbreakers.

[meatrace]

Friggin Titan Grip shenanigans I tell you....

[LibraryRPGamer]

Good suggestion. I did some research on Thunder and fang on the boards. By RAW I think I would need two levels of titan mailer before I could double
Wield large weapons. Besides I want to focus on CMs and not duel wielding.

Is there another combat maneuver that would work well with this build?

How about other feats that support bull rushes?

[meatrace]

Well...I don't know much about the Klar, does it count AS a shield? Like can you shield bash with it?

Imp Shield Bash, or some bash feat, lets you make a free bull rush attempt if you hit.

[redward]

It sounds like you want to be doing these maneuvers with your Earth Breaker. You might want to check out this blog post if you haven't already. I also recommend TarkXT's excellent post on combat maneuvers.

Specifically,

Quote:

Disarm, sunder, and trip are normally the only kinds of combat maneuvers in which you’re actually using a weapon (natural weapons and unarmed strikes are considered weapons for this purpose) to perform the maneuver, and therefore the weapon’s bonuses (enhancement bonuses, feats such as Weapon Focus, fighter weapon training, and so on) apply to the roll.

Ki Throw is also specifically useable with Unarmed Strikes only.

Still, even if you're not using the Earth Breaker for most of these, I think you'll have fun with this build. Maneuvers can be extremely powerful when a party works together to take advantage of them.

[Daelen]

You definitely want Quick Bull Rush, Pushing Assault... if you want to add a weapon to it, wear spiked armor and take Spiked Destroyer, eventually you might want feats like Spinning Throw and Bull Rush Strike. Now, the next bit of advice I'm going to throw out there isn't optimal, but is certainly thematic. I'd consider the Two-Handed Fighter archetype, and combining Vital Strike with Overhand Chop early on, then once you get more than one attack you'll have Backswing adding some good damage for you.

[ErrantPursuit]

Daelen wrote:

You definitely want Quick Bull Rush, Pushing Assault... if you want to add a weapon to it, wear spiked armor and take Spiked Destroyer, eventually you might want feats like Spinning Throw and Bull Rush Strike. Now, the next bit of advice I'm going to throw out there isn't optimal, but is certainly thematic. I'd consider the Two-Handed Fighter archetype, and combining Vital Strike with Overhand Chop early on, then once you get more than one attack you'll have Backswing adding some good damage for you.

If he goes Vital Strike he'll never get any use out of his maneuvers. Taking only one action around has that effect. I do agree with Quick <Anything>. Being able to swap your maneuver out for an attack action is when maneuvers really get good.

Shield Slam in particular is good for use with Bull Rush because of this line:

d20PFSRD Shield Slam wrote:

Opponents who cannot move back due to a wall or other surface are knocked prone after moving the maximum possible distance.

Standard Bull Rush options will not knock a character prone, but with a shield you can move them and trip them for one low cost!

Pushing Assault is poor for a build that uses Bull Rush because Pushing Assault is a poor man's Bull Rush. Spinning Throw is a good suggestion however.

I think since the OP is using Lore Warden for the bonuses to CMB and CMD he won't be switching to Two-Handed Fighter for the Overhand Chop.

@LibraryRPGamer: You might look into a dip into Monk. 2 levels gets you two more feats, and three levels means you won't even take a hit on CMD/CMB thanks to Maneuver Training. I don't know if you can play with your progression any (you said backup character, so I presumed no games played) but it's worth a look. I didn't see much in the archetypes you'd want, but front loading a few of those easy shot feats and getting the +3 boost to all saves is handy. Lastly, being a Monk, you can spend Ki to affect creatures too large to normally throw...

Look into Fury's Fall for an extra boost to Trip.
Improved Drag and Riptide Attack are a great combo for only two more feats.

Anyway. there are plenty of good ideas out there, these are just a few odds and ends from me.

[Drogos]

I've got a rage prophet at 9 that I use sunder on. You need to have an adamantine weapon, but it can seriously take the wind out of the sails of any humanoid opponent and a number of monstrous ones (some you have to be wary of because their natural attacks are scarier than their weapon attacks). The hardest part is having all the hardness info, but I picked up the GM screen and it had all that info on there. And since it's pfs you have much less concern about the party getting shorted on loot since you destroyed it.