Starting a brand new Rise of the Runelords campaign. Brand new level one character. Given 80 points to spread between the six stats (80 points total, not an 80 point buy). I plan on playing the character through level 20.I need stat and feat advice for a vanilla human fighter. Nothing too fancy. Uses a two handed weapon, hits things hard.
80 points ... as in like an 18 in STR would use up 18 leaving you with 62?
80 points ... as in like an 18 in STR would use up 18 leaving you with 62?
Yep!
Oh. Personal preference is using only the Player's Handbook for feats.
34, 12, 20, 3, 10, 1?
Sorry! Forgot to mention. Minimum of 8, maximum of 18 before racials on any stat.
Starting a brand new Rise of the Runelords campaign. Brand new level one character. Given 80 points to spread between the six stats (80 points total, not an 80 point buy). I plan on playing the character through level 20.I need stat and feat advice for a vanilla human fighter. Nothing too fancy. Uses a two handed weapon, hits things hard.
RotRL doesn't go to 20. It typically ends at level 17.
Oh. Personal preference is using only the Player's Handbook for feats.
You are severely Nerfing yourself on a class that can use all the help it can get.
But I advise Power Attack, Improved Critical (on a high critical weapon), Weapon Focus and Greater, Weapon Specialization and Greater, Iron Will, Toughness.
Edit: In the Rise of the Runelords Player guide there is a feat called Big Game Hunter. Take it at level 7. It will come into play like 80% of all fights from that point on and is a great feat.
18;13;18;10;13;8
That would be my suggestion. You meet the stat prereqs for most things and are a very beefy front liner
Str 20 (18) Dex 10 Con 18 Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 10.
stat boost: 1st level: Str
Feats: Power Attack, Toughness, Iron Will
Skills: Perception, Survival, Swim (you can squeeze in more skills with your favored class bonus and/or trading Cha for Int.
Thanks, all ! Please keep it coming!
Hum u could do a battlefield control fighter with reach weapon, with feats like lunge and combat patrol it would be funny and better than just I attack every round.
A good stat spread could be STR 16+2 Dex 16 Con 16 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 8, sugest using heart of the fey alternate race feature together with reactionary and auspicious tatoo traits.
One of the best, basic styles you can go for is reach.
Reach lets you grab a nice, big 2 handed weapon, but you can then use it to make yourself a living obstacle on the battlefield, and you also get easier full attacks.
Power attack and combat reflexes are obvious- harder hits, and you get more chances to use those hard hits when an enemy tries to get past you (or approach you). Make enemies fear trying to get past you- make yourself into a circle of pain 25' wide.
Lunge- this BAB +6 feat doesn't allow you to expand your threatened area, but it helps with positioning. Normally, if you attack first, enemies are close enough that they only need a 5' step to get to you (thus, they avoid your AoO, and they get to full attack). This means you have to decide between attacking first (and losing your AoO) or standing around looking silly while waiting for an enemy to attack you (which they might just avoid you, and you still waste precious time in a fight)
With lunge, you attack from far enough away that a large portion of creatures have to spend a move action to reach you (thus, they eat an AoO, and they can't full attack). Even if the enemy has some reach, this is still useful since it lets you attack from far enough away that you avoid the enemy's reach based AoOs (ie- great against giants).
Lunge also has an advantage in its primary effect- giving you an extra 5' of area you can attack during your turn. Combined with a reach weapon and 5' step, you can full attack anything up to 20' away. That is a nice substitute for lunge.
There are further things you can do to make reach great... but I am not sure how far you want to go with material. Trip feats are common (since it allows you to use AoOs to shut down enemies, adn you still get an AoO when the enemy is forced to get up). It does have somewhat diminishing returns at higher levels (enemies with high CMD and size bonuses, anything that flies). If you can, try to get the fortuitous enhancement (it lets you get a second AoO in for the same action; it is BAB-5 and 1/turn... but that is basically a mini full attack against the first idiot that crosses you)
Overall- reach is Two Handing 2.0. You can do the nice, simple swings, but you also naturally have options jsut from standing there.
And don't forget that combat reflexes requires some DEX to use. It was also of no practical value to our melees in the later parts, because so many foes are huge and have long reach.
Don't forget to ask the GM about any houserules, especially when it comes to feats. The one I'm currently playing with uses this: http://michaeliantorno.com/feat-taxes-in-pathfinder/
I would strongly advise making use of the Advanced Weapon Training and Advanced Armor Training rules from the Weapon & Armor Master Handbooks, respectively.
I'd also advise using either the nodachi from Ultimate Combat/Equipment or the Fauchard from Adventurer's Armory 2 if you don't want to use an eastern weapon. Two handed 18-20/x2 weapons; nodachi is martial, has brace, and does peircing or slashing; fauchard is exotic, has reach, but only does slashing damage. Both do a d10 but damage dice don't matter much if you take the Focused Weapon advanced weapon training option that gives you a warpriest's sacred weapon damage die on a weapon you have weapon focus with.
And don't forget that combat reflexes requires some DEX to use. It was also of no practical value to our melees in the later parts, because so many foes are huge and have long reach.
A. 12 dex still benefits. Even full plate users can benefit (and that is ignoring newer armors that are more friendly to a bit of dex). Combat reflexes also has the added benefit of letting you get AoOs in the surprise round- even dex 8 characters might well enjoy that.
B. While there are ways to address that (enlarge person seems like it would be.... big), even without AoO threat... it still lets you engage with huge creatures without any risk of AoOs yourself. With 20' range while using 5' steps, you can engage a huge creature without using moves through their threatened area.Big bosses also often have smaller minions of various sorts. Reach still works against those.