| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Here's what may happen...
People might just pop up with a dozen suggestions telling you to play something you never intended to play in the first place. "Play a barbarian 'cause fighters suck", etc.
Ignore those. They may or may not be right about one being slightly better than the other, but the difference is negligible, especially in the hands of a new player. You've already told us what you want to play, so here's my thoughts:
For a brand new player, the most important thing is to keep gameplay as simple as possible so you can get to know the game's overall rules and facets. If you come up with a convoluted build with archetypes, hard to find feats, and the like, you'll be learning both the overall rules and your particular character's rules at the same time for a long time. With simplicity, you will learn your character quickly and have all the more time to learn the general rules and interactions, which take much longer to master.
The Weapon Focus/Specialization tree of feats are a nice place to start as a beginner. Why?
Mainly, because they are CONSTANT attack/damage bonuses. Unlike rages from a barbarian or favored enemies from a ranger or anything else, these bonuses are always in play as long as you're wielding that type of weapon. Trust me, for a beginner, this is a big deal. I can't tell you how many times I have forgotten about bonus damage from one source or another because it was only temporary. It stacks with weapon training, which you get for free, so you might as well specialize.
Now, I see half-orc. One thing that makes me think of is "scary". They come with a nice +2 to intimidate.
Weapon Focus gives access to the Dazzling Display feat. This lets you intimidate in a burst. The Disheartening Display feat (from the advanced player's guide) lets you stack this up for extra bonuses. This isn't really necessary, so if you want to keep it mega-simple, don't worry about it. I just mention it because you've already got that bonus to intimidate from being orc. A bonus that stacks nicely with...
Intimidating Prowess. Most fighters have a very nice Str score and would benefit pretty heavily from this feat if they were the type to intimidate.
This stuff will not win the DPS olympics. But it will give you a solid character who will contribute heavily to most battles, be able to contribute socially via intimidate, and have some battlefield control with the display feats.
I think you should take; endurance, diehard, deahtless initiate, ironhide, deathless master, power attack, weapon focus, weapon specialization, greater weapon focus, toughness, and Iron will. Not in that order though.
They are all "easy to use" feats and they'll make you really hard to kill.
Suggested Order:
1: Power Attack
1B: Endurance
2B: Weapon Focus
3: Iron Will
4B: Weapon Specialization
5: Diehard
6B: Ironhide
7: Deathless Initiate
8B: Greater Weapon Focus
9: Deathless Master
10B: Toughness
First you need to decide what you're trying to do with this character. I'm assuming you want to hit things really hard with a stick; you essentially just need Power Attack for this if you're using a 2-handed weapon. This leaves you with a ton of feats to do other stuff with.
TGTG has a nice idea with the intimidate build for a half-orc. Unfortunately, fighters are... not terribly good at it. They have no reason to invest in charisma and receive a paltry two skills per level; if you're intimidating you're not doing anything else. If the intimidate build interests you, you might want to look into the Slayer. You get six skill points per level so you have a lot more flexibility and will get to spend a lot more of your time doing things in the session.
|
Leveling guide list
No improved critical?
Also with regards to the OP Fighter is a nice simple class that you can build any way you like for combat. I suppose the question to ask is what kind of fighter do you want to build?
Are you upfront with a two handed weapon? Then Errant_Epoch or Greenteagamer have provided some good advice. Just remember to also have a light slashing weapon as you are in the level range for swallow whole to be an issue.
Are you planning to fire arrows from afar? Are you going for the traditional sword and shield? If so those require different builds and feats. Some more information about what you want to do is nice.
Also remember the mundane gear. It's nice to have your flashy +2 sword but that won't help you sleep outdoors like a winterblanket or tent will. Sure the wizard can cast fly to get you out of that pit trap or you could throw a rope up to your allies if you aren't in combat. You could try to remember your way out or you could mark corridors with a piece of chalk. Mundane gear is often forgotten.
Are you upfront with a two handed weapon? Then Errant_Epoch or Greenteagamer have provided some good advice. Just remember to also have a light slashing weapon as you are in the level range for swallow whole to be an issue.
Spiked armor usually covers the "swallow whole" gamut nicely, as well as being a light grappling-friendly weapon, a piercing weapon for underwater combat, and (if your GM is nice) threatening adjacent squares when wielding a reach weapon. You also do not have to drop your big weapon to wield it when in a grapple/stomach/etc.
|
|
Spiked armor usually covers the "swallow whole" gamut nicely.
True. Depends on the way the character goes. I typically don't have the armor spikes if I am playing good face characters.
Though if you are planning on getting heavy armor make sure you also own an armored coat. You never know when you will have a raid at night where you can't put on that lovely full plate.
Hate to mention this but there is a archetype that focuses on Tower shield called Tower shield specialist, might be worth checking into. Oh and you get Tower shield prof already so no need to take the feat. I would take weapon specialization: Bastard sword in it's place. Iron will is pretty good to take, since your will save is possibly low (nobody likes a mind controlled fighter) Ah just saw the no archetype rule... Oh a option to keep open is the possibility of two handing the bastard sword (when damage is more important than def or the -2 penalty is really working against you) Depending on your dex you could always go point blank shot and rapid shot (when you need to shoot things from a distance) But really I think most people will tell you iron will is really important
So guys, what general feats would you recommend?
From the stuff you listed, I'd suggest dropping Throw Anything (if you want to be able to attack at range, and trust me, you do, then grab a composite longbow), and add in Iron Will and Lightning Reflexes, to shore up your bad saving throws.
For a tank, I'd also recommend taking the Sacred Tattoo alternate racial trait (from the Advanced Race Guide; it replaces your Orc Ferocity ability) for a +1 luck bonus to all your saves, and if you get traits, pick Fate's Favored (from Ultimate Campaign), which boosts all your luck bonuses by 1 (so that's another +1 on all your saves from the Sacred Tattoo, and an extra +1 AC if you invest in a Jingasa of the fortunate soldier).
Ahh nice. I'll have to look into those in the morning! Thanks!
I've already dropped Throw Anything, and I've decided against any form of long range. Going to focus on close range (I've also got a specialisation for close weapons (cause Fighters get to choose a 2nd at level 9). But your ideas for the racial traits seem like a good option! Thanks! :)
Even if you don't focus on it, and never take any feats or other options to support it, you should still carry a ranged weapon for those times you can't reach your opponent. At level 10, a masterwork composite longbow will be cheap, and it's just one more tool in your toolbox.
Agreed I would carry a decent bow, nothing like a round or two before a dragon comes eat you and you could put a couple arrows in him before he gets to you. Right you can use the bastard sword 1 handed...but in a pinch you can two hand it (always good to have options)Iron will and two others...hmm weapon specialization for the bastard sword (+2 damage) oh and blind fight! (at higher levels you will run into more invisible things so might be handy)
I would steer clear of the tower shield. Even if you're proficient with it it sticks you with a nasty -2 penalty on attack rolls.
If Sword-and-Board is your thing, there's a feat line that lets you get really good at walloping people with your shield. Take a look at the feat Shield Master. At level 11 the shield's enhancement bonus applies to your armor and to attacks you make with it. If you like that, go for a light shield so that the penalties from using two weapon fighting aren't very steep. You'd need 17 Dex for it to be worthwhile, but check out this feat progression:
1 Power Attack, Two Weapon Fighting
2 Improved Shield Bash
3 Weapon Focus (Weapon of Choice)
4 Weapon Specialization (Weapon of Choice)
5 (Something Defensive)
6 Improved Two Weapon Fighting
7 (Something Defensive)
8 Improved Critical (Weapon of Choice)
9 Shield Slam
10 (Something Defensive)
11 Shield Master
12 Bashing Finish
Shield Slam is strong too. It lets you bull rugh for free, and if you knock someone into a wall they fall down (only if you have that feat). If you like bashing finish (free extra attacks with your shield when you crit) then make sure you go with a 19-20 or even 18-20 weapon to increase crit chance, and pick up critical focus for sure.
|
Mad, do you have access to the Advanced Players Guide? If so, I like to put the alternate race trait Toothy on my Half Orcs. It gives you a Bite attack. Comes in hand...er...toothy every once in a while.
Also, check out Pathfinder Society Play in your area. I don't Play by Post much so can't help you with online games, but PFS would be another avenue to get your game on.
As a new player, try putting half into archery and half into melee. You'll be solid at both things, which is something only Fighters can easily achieve.
Just PBS>PS>DA>MS will leave you effective at pew pew.
If you're looking for wow factor, there are a lot of huge DPS melee fighter builds.
A standard feat stack for melee with no tricks would look like:
1-Power Attack, Weapon Focus(greatsword)
2-Weapon Specialization(greatsword)
8-Greater Weapon Focus(greatsword)
9-Improved Critical(greatsword)
12-Greater Weapon Specialization
Those two together are only 9 feats at 9.
It matters greatly if you want the shield or not. You can use a shield and a coorporation feat (shield wall) to gain armor from someone with the same feat and working together to form a shield wall.
You could get dodge, mobility for extra AC if you need to move in combat in order to shield buddies or provide a flanking bonus. Think of taking 3 ranks in acrobatics so you get extra AC when using defensive fighting and total defence. when you combine total defence (with 3 ranks in acrobatics) and mobility you will gain 10 AC against attacks of opportunity when moving through threatened squares while employing total defence.
If you add spring attack (prerequisites: dodge, mobility) to that as well to allow you to attack during your movement. Combined with defensive fighting (and 3 ranks in acrobatics) will allow you to move to threatened squares with a +7 AC against attack of opportunity make an attack with a -4 penalty (defensive fighting) and move on to the place you want to reach. You could reach a flanking position fairly save and remember that even when using total defence you still provide flanking for someone else at the opposite side.
And the shield path so you will not loose you shield bonus to AC when making an attack with your shield rocks as well. Shield proficiency(which you have as a fighter) followed by improved shield bash and maybe shield focus. In order to reduce attack penalties you might want to invest in two weapon fighting as well (a light shield is considered a light weapons and a heavy shield is considered a heavy weapon for purposes of two weapon fighting)
Indeed powerattack for extra damage as well as improved critical and cleave.
And quick draw allows you to switch weapons easily during combat. Toughness will provide some extra hitpoints to make sure you don't fall too easily.