new dwarven character


Beginner Box


I am brand new to any D&D style game let alone Pathfinder. I am creating a dwarf fighter, but am wondering if there are any suggestions to make him unique.

Silver Crusade

That all depends on what you want him to do. Is he more of a in-your-face melee fighter, or does he want to stay back and shoot the enemy? Does he use the traditional weapons of his race, or did his clan specialize in a different weapon?


You could fill entire books with ways to make a Fighter unique...

Assuming that you're just using basic rules-sources (I don't know exactly what the BBox has), you could always give him more unique weapons or something.

Multiclassing a little bit always makes more unique Fighters, but it's a bit more complicated, since you're taking levels in more than one class and combining abilities. Barbarian and Fighter for a Rage Fighter, Monk and Fighter for an unarmored Fighter, Rogue and Fighter for a sneaky Fighter, and so on. But if you're totally new to this, I'd approach that with caution.

The big question is 'what do you want him to be like?'


I'm not sure what beginner box is, I may have posted in the wrong area. This is actually my first post ever.
His weapon of choice is a battle axe and he is definitely an in your face melee fighter.
I've been thinking about the multiclassing thing, but I think it may complicate things a bit more than I'm ready for.


Pyreforge wrote:

I'm not sure what beginner box is, I may have posted in the wrong area. This is actually my first post ever.

His weapon of choice is a battle axe and he is definitely an in your face melee fighter.
I've been thinking about the multiclassing thing, but I think it may complicate things a bit more than I'm ready for.

Well, straightforward multiclassing isn't so bad if it's something like taking a level of Barbarian. You just add the abilities a Barbarian gets at level 1 to your character, including adding the Base Attack Bonus and Fortitude save. Multiclassing is generally just adding together what a character of each class would have at that level - so a Fighter 4/ Barbarian 1 has what a level 4 Fighter and a level 1 Barbarian has put together.

I mention Barbarian because it's a great melee bonus, and you only need 1 level of Barbarian (plus the feat Extra Rage to get more rounds of raging per day, since you're not getting more from more Barbarian levels).

Now, if you wanted something like a Dwarf Fighter/Monk making Flurry of Blows attacks with a big chopping sword, it's a little more complex, but the way it works is really the same in the end.


Here's an example of what you can do with a little multiclassing to make a really unique Fighter - this is a bit more complex due to the Monk stuff, but I figured I'd post it for fun:

Hrodr the Fearless
This fierce Dwarven warrior battles his foes armed and armored with nothing but his fearsome 9-ring broadsword,
a pair of old trousers, and his enormous red beard. Woe to those who think him an easy target...

Unchained Monk 1/ Weapon Master Fighter 4
Dwarf: 16STR, 12DEX, 14/16CON, 10INT, 14/16WIS, 8\6CHA

Level 1, UM. *Unchained Monk ability: Flurry of Blows* / *Unchained Monk ability: AC Bonus* / Free Feat: Improved Unarmed Strike / Free Feat: Stunning Fist / Feat: Crane Style / Monk Bonus Feat: Dodge

Level 2, WM. Bonus Fighter Feat: Weapon Focus: 9-Ring Broadsword

Level 3, WM. *Weapon Master ability: Weapon Guard* / Feat: Improved Initiative / Bonus Fighter Feat: Toughness

Level 4, WM. *Weapon Master ability: Weapon Training: 9-Ring Broadsword*

Level 5, WM. Feat: Crane Wing / Bonus Fighter Feat: Weapon Specialization: 9-Ring Broadsword

Important Magic Items: Belt of Strength +2, Headband of Wisdom +2, 9-Ring Broadsword +1, Bracers of Armor +1.

Attacking: The 9-ring broadsword that Hrodr wields can be used to make Flurry of Blows attacks. This means that any time Hrodr uses a Full Attack Action (uses his whole turn to attack), he can make two attacks instead of just one. He wields his 9-ring in two hands to deal more damage, but he can switch to wielding it in one hand if he wants to use his Crane Wing ability to defend himself - this hand-switch is a free action, so it can be done at any time he wants, for free. So he could charge, smack a foe with a two-handed attack, and then change to a one-handed grip to be ready to block the next attack on him.

As a Fighter, Hrodr has the Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization feats with his 9-ring, as well as a +1 bonus from Weapon Training. So besides his strength bonus, he adds +2 to attack rolls and +3 to damage rolls.

Hrodr can also punch enemies with his Stunning Fist ability twice per day to try to stun them, which can be very useful against 'weaker' enemies like spellcasters who don't have a good Fortitude save. Stunning a spellcaster before they cause trouble is a great help to the party!

Defending: Hrodr doesn't use any armor or a shield... so how does he not die horribly? Hrodr has a good wisdom score, and a special ability of the Monk is to add their wisdom to their armor. With 18WIS (he has a +2WIS item), he gains +4 to Armor Class. He also has the feat Dodge, which is +1 to Armor Class, and like any other character, his DEX bonus (+1) is also added. Finally, he wears magical Bracers of Armor +1, which give him some actual Armor Bonus as if he had magical armor on. So his normal level of 'armor' isn't too bad even though he's wearing nothing but some old pants!

Hrodr has another trick up his sleeve though, and that's the Crane fighting style - the Crane Style and Crane Wing feats. Hrodr may declare, when fighting, that he's "Fighting Defensively", and because he has Crane Style and 3 ranks in the Acrobatics skill, he gains +4 to his Armor Class at a cost of -2 to his attack bonus (which he can easily afford). With the Crane Wing feat and one hand free, Hrodr adds another +4 to his armor class by shielding himself with his open hand. This means that without any armor or shield, Hrodr has a total of +15AC to his 'armor' through a combination of his abilities and his wisdom - the kind of armor class usually reserved for a warrior in fullplate armor and shield!

Links:
Unchained Monk.
Weapon Master Fighter Archetype.
Crane Style and Crane Wing.
Stunning Fist.

The 9-Ring Broadsword.


I totally agree that multiclassing is awesome. However, it can get pretty complicated.

The Beginner Box is a staple of the Pathfinder world. It has a mat that you can draw your maps on, it has some of the iconic monsters, and it comes with guides to basic pathfindering. My group uses it to play our campaigns.

So you want an in-the-face? I would definitely get a high strength score. I would also look at lots of constitution because it gives you health. Dexterity is good because it adds to your armor. So basically, start by getting Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity high, and then from there, you can head in nearly infinite directions.

I agree with BadBird that multiclassing into Barbarian would be nice, as Barbarians can enter a rage that makes them great in-the-face tankers.

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