Ca tagghila luigi!
First of all, talk with your group.
Tactics and Teamwork is the most important variables, so you should consider these first.
Your gm loves u
|
What is the Group make up?
Did the party design a group that covers every in combat role?
Typically when someone takes a Lot of damage it means the Anvil is not doing so well at laying down the control.
Some more information is required to Diagnose the problem and then we can work on solving your issues.
Typically if your the only front liner in Light armor your going to be in for a bad time.
The party lacks a real tank. I'm the gm of the story and Bearish takes a lot of damage because he has more survivability than other members: a dex-based slayer, a semi-melee mesmerist and a poorly-made monk-cleric without relevant buff or healing capabilities. I try to let a lot of npcs join the party cause 'cos every role can be covered by one of two of them in every fight. Sort of suikoden system. Bearish need a little help with his ca and hit point and furious guardian seems a good and temathic chooise. I allow the prc even if only for human if he train with one of them but other options are welcome.
|
|
Yeah Basically you have a very poorly made Group. You are full of Damage dealers with no real control options. Start by looking for a Arcane caster NPC since Drum allows NPC to follow you. Your looking for a NPC who can debilitate groups of enemies at 1 time. Spells like: Color Spray, Glitter dust, Create Pit, Fog Cloud, Cloud of Seasickness, Cloud Kill, Black tentacles, ext ext. This will help keep the total number of things pounding you down. It is not going to stop all damage but it should help to reduce some of it.
A typical Balanced Group looks like this:
2 Hammers- The Groups damage Dealers. These guys are responsible for Killing the Enemy and ending the encounter. (Examples: Fighter, Monks, Barbarians)
1 Anvil- The guy who sets up the battlefield and Hinders multiple foes. (eamples: Wizard, Sorcerer, Bomb Alchemist)
1 Arm- Buffer and Support style character. He keeps the hammer up and swinging. (Example: Cleric, Oracle, Bard, Skald)
If you have a character who can cover 2 roles all the better but a PC should be able to cover 1 role.
Example of a Dual Role: Evangelist Cleric who uses a Reach weapon and Does AoO when he can get them in. He is first and Foremost an Arm...buffing his team with his Standard action. Then he is a Hammer second. Getting in good shots when he can but always filling his Arm role.
My advise is either to either Fix the party or Grab up NPCs to fix your issues.
You will need an Anvil and a Decent Arm. Perhaps a Bard or Evangelist Cleric and a Wizard is looking to join up with your group.
Does the DEX-based Slayer have a way to get DEX-to-damage?
If not this would explain a good part of why enemies concentrate on the Brawler. because the DEX-Slayer is so much less of a threat that they fight against the one who really threatens them, instead of the one who "wields the tickle-feather".
I'm sooo mesmerist!
There's not.
Especially not anything that will really make a difference.
Like DR, you'd get DR/- 1 with 2 levels of Barb, but that means you're taking 1 damage off of every hit, so you're only negating like 2-7 damage a turn.
Fast healing you take a level of Inquisitor and then once per day for 1 fight you can have fast healing 1, which negates 1 damage a round.
You'd be better off trying to raise AC and find a way to get a miss chance.
*Something else, you guys do heal up to full HP after every fight right?
Unless you plan to do a lot of grappling, the post-errata brawler should always have a shield to boost her AC.
|
As mentioned by several people, if you are going to function as the primary tank, you are going to need some tactical help. Having a dedicated healer (typically cleric or life oracle) would help a lot, and they can also work to buff/de-buff. An arcane caster that focuses on battle field control and buff/de-buffs would be a very welcome addition.
Multi-classing as a Brawler is typically not a good idea: all of your class skills improve as you level - and the things that you would get from dipping into another class for a level or two are not going to have a significant affect on your ability to survive.
I can appreciate why you took Combat Expertise, as it is a gateway feat that allows you take feats like Improved Trip and Improved Grapple, but those combat maneuver feats are ones that you shouldn't take, as you can fill those feats easily with Martial Flexibility. By the time that you qualify for Greater Trip, you can use a move action to grant your self Improved and Greater Trip through Martial Flexibility, so no need to take those feats as level or bonus feats.
I am not usually a fan of Dodge, but it sounds like you are in pretty desperate need of improving your AC and your hitpoints. Dodge can also be considered a gateway feat for Martial Flexibility, allowing you to pickup Spring Attack with just two uses of Martial Flexibility (or Whirlwind later, at 10th level with 3 uses of Flexibility). You might want to consider Toughness, too, especially without a dedicated healer.
Also, look to see if you can find fairly cheap magic items to help sure up your deficiencies: Amulet of Natural Armor, Ring of Deflection, Brawler armor, etc.