Another sword and board thread


Advice


Ok my last attempt at this was a few years ago and just trying to see if anything has changed that I might have missed. Looking for a character with full armor and a sword and shield. Would like to mainly use the one weapon unless there is a cheap way to add a shield bash in there. Would like a little magic in there if possible and decent skills. Ideas so far:

Slayer: take ranger combat and two weapon fighting..no magic but have enough skill points to put into UMD.

Swashbuckler/daring champion Going with one weapon with a decent hit light armor and buckler sort of hurts though. Same issue points towards UMD.

Kinetic knight: Burn scares me and honestly stats seems a bit strained.

Occultist: really hits all the boxes but 1 handed doesnt really get a major boost


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My last sword & board tank was a barbarian with a rapier.


Sword and shield ranger, has full BAB, skills, spells, and an archetype for everything.

Grand Lodge

Slayer gets shield master at level 6 which is worth a ton of gold. Sneak attack and study for really high static damage bonuses.

There is a mirror image style rogue talent they have access to.

Unlike rangers that need to cast slayers can use heavy shields because they don't need the hand to cast.


Shield Focus +1AC with a shield.
Shielded Mage cast with shield hand.

Pretty simple fix with the bonus to AC.

I do love the Slayer, but the OP did ask for spells.


Or just take 6 levels of Buckler Duelist, and then 14 levels of Arcane Duelist Bard...

Human (+2 STR)
History of Terrors replaces Skilled
Anatomist trait
Magical Knack trait
Bonus Feat: EWP Falcata
Rondelero/Buckler Duelist (Fighter)
1. Weapon Focus Falcata
1. Shield Focus
2. Buckler Bash Ex.
2. Combat Reflexes
3. Buckler Catch Ex.
3. Weapon Trick/TWF: Offhand Opportunity
4. Unhindering Shield
5. Strong Swing Ex.
5. Weapon Trick/One-handed: Stylish Riposte
6. Taldan Duelist
At this point, I have a +3 AC from my buckler, which I keep even if I bash with it. I can bash with my buckler. My buckler hand is considered free for feats and abilities, allowing me to qualify for two separate types of weapon tricks (both two weapon and one handed). I can freely alternate between the falcata and the buckler during a full attack, without incurring TWF penalties. I get to swing both the falcata and the buckler on AoO. I get an AoO if you miss me by 5 or more. And I can 2H the falcata without taking a penalty from my buckler.

Then Bard it up.


Does it have to be a Sword? How about Earthbreaker and Shield, Dwarven War Axe and Shield, or Pole Arm and Shield?

My first thought, nice and simple: Dwarven Paladin. Fight with a Dwarven War Axe, 1d10 Slashing. Use Armor Spikes as an Off-Hand Weapon maybe. Use Swift Girding, perhaps a Wand, to dress in your Stone/Dwarven/Mountain Plate, Maybe dip a level in Ranger so you can use a Wand of Lead Blades. Maybe dip a level Living Monolith to grow to size large as a Swift Action. With both buffs, your Axe will do 3d8.

Grand Lodge

VoodistMonk wrote:

Shield Focus +1AC with a shield.

Shielded Mage cast with shield hand.

Pretty simple fix with the bonus to AC.

I do love the Slayer, but the OP did ask for spells.

The OP also included the slayer in their posts, so I don't see an issue commenting on it. I will let to op speak for themselves.

Now to helpful things. There is a mildly castery slayer. The stygian slayer but unfortunately it loses shield proficiency so like playing a ranger you have to drop some additional feats or multi class but it's a pretty good archetype.

If you want casting nature fang druid with a shield and scimitar is amazing. Grab an animal companion for some out flank and you will be crushing it.

Fighter thoughts:
I don't love the Buckler Duelist over all. No will boost, switching between weapons you can already do (it's a wasted feature see FAQ below), you need a pretty severe point buy to meet the Dex prerequisite, giving up the 2 best class features of the fighter, weak skills.

Standard fighters can use weapon mods to add any weapon to a fighter group now. This seems like the superior fighter option.

There is some awesome stuff in the build like getting double aoo but you need a way to force aoos. Reach with swordmaster flair.

faq:

Quote:

Multiple Weapons, Extra Attacks, and Two-Weapon Fighting: If I have extra attacks from a high BAB, can I make attacks with different weapons and not incur a two-weapon fighting penalty?

Yes. Basically, you only incur TWF penalties if you are trying to get an extra attack per round.


ekibus wrote:
...Occultist: really hits all the boxes but 1 handed doesnt really get a major boost

Consider a Haunt Collector Occultist taking the Transmutation and Abjuration Implement Schools at 1st level. (The Physical Enhancement Resonant Ability and the Legacy Weapon Base Focus Power will boost your attack rolls and/or damage. Once you can afford a +1 sword you can use Legacy Weapon to add Bane for a serious boost.)

At 2nd level choose the Champion Spirit for a Haunted Implement. (The Seance Boon is +2 damage except with spells, and the Spirit Bonus will let you boost attack and damage rolls as a swift action without spending Focus.)

At 6th level take the Trappings of the Warrior Panoply. (The Martial Skill Resonant Power will basically lt you be a full-BAB class when using your sword and shield. The Combat Trick Base Focus Power lets you temporarily pick up a Combat Feat.)

If you make your character a Human of Ulfen ethnicity, they can take the Weapon Training trait from Inner Sea Races. It gets you +1 Trait Bonus to damage with a Short Sword, Longsword, Bastard Sword, and Greatsword (along with a Throwing Axe, Handaxe, Battleaxe, Greataxe, Light Hammer, Warhammer, Shortbow, and Longbow).


Shield Brace allows you to use a polearm + shield.
Nodachi is included under polearms.

Your best bet is to build with a heavy shield + nodachi.

Power Attack, Furious Focus, etc.

Grand Lodge

Volkard Abendroth wrote:

Shield Brace allows you to use a polearm + shield.

Nodachi is included under polearms.

Your best bet is to build with a heavy shield + nodachi.

Power Attack, Furious Focus, etc.

As long as you don't want to TWF.


Grandlounge wrote:
Volkard Abendroth wrote:

Shield Brace allows you to use a polearm + shield.

Nodachi is included under polearms.

Your best bet is to build with a heavy shield + nodachi.

Power Attack, Furious Focus, etc.

As long as you don't want to TWF.

TWFing with sword & board is very feat intensive and only a couple of classes can pull it off.

Grand Lodge

Absolutely, it's also super stat intensive if you lack ranger combat styles.


Yeah I figured worst case using UMD will help with the magic condition, since I know it might be hard to get what I want otherwise.
Shielded mage is a really nice feat opens up a door or two.
I like the idea of hitting with the offhand but as mentioned it is feat intensive. But going with a simple 1 handed weapon kinda hurts in the damage department. Thats why I was even looking at the swashbuckler/daring champion

Grand Lodge

I like the daring champion and Virtuous Bravo for swashbuckler types. I dislike swashbucklers for a bunch of reasons other people have written about.

Swashgator is a fun multiclass build especially if you keep enough strength for power attack. I have a super high accuracy build that works well for reliably parrying.

I have seen a paladin that uses sword and shield so it has the option to shield bash/ shield slam when it is useful. But primarily uses the sword and smite. Oath of vengeance works well here.


COMBAT MANEUVERS.


Grandlounge wrote:
Volkard Abendroth wrote:

Shield Brace allows you to use a polearm + shield.

Nodachi is included under polearms.

Your best bet is to build with a heavy shield + nodachi.

Power Attack, Furious Focus, etc.

As long as you don't want to TWF.

You can still TWF with Nodachi and Heavy Shield, you just wouldn't Shield Bash as an Off Hand Weapon. For a Light Off Hand Weapon, you can still use Armor Spikes or Unarmed Strike.


Shielded mage might be a really good way to get a cleric going (or warpriest)Opens up some ideas there.

Nodachi losing reach kinda sucks though doesnt it? Basically it is a bastard sword with a better crit?
I did do a paladin with oath of vengeance he was really nasty... wish the skills were 4+ =/ I always wanted to do a tortured crusader dwarf...anyone find a reliable way to get detect evil?

Forgot about a brawler that is another way...he could be very flexible


ekibus wrote:

Shielded mage might be a really good way to get a cleric going (or warpriest)Opens up some ideas there.

Nodachi losing reach kinda sucks though doesnt it? Basically it is a bastard sword with a better crit?
I did do a paladin with oath of vengeance he was really nasty... wish the skills were 4+ =/ I always wanted to do a tortured crusader dwarf...anyone find a reliable way to get detect evil?

Forgot about a brawler that is another way...he could be very flexible

"Bastard Sword with a better crit" sounds pretty freakin' awesome!

I was thinking if you added Quickdraw, you could just switch between Nodachi an Lucerne Hammer depending on whether the situation called for Reach. When I was first thinking about a character like this, I was thinking about the Phalanx Soldier Archetype that gets the Ready Pike ability, letting you whip out your Brace Pole Arm as an Immediate Action.

Anyway, another thing you can do if you have Quickdraw is just Throw Weapons: just keep a few Short Spears, Throwing Axes and Throwing Hammers on your Belt, and play a character that can quickly switch-hit between Sword-and-Board melee and Ranged combat.


QuickDraw with ranged is a good call for some always appreciated versatility. Phalanx Fighter is a good starting point if you want a polearm and shield.


You should check out the Viking Fighter Archetype. (Recently boosted in UW woot woot!)

All the bonus feats of a fighter, with the rage of a barbarian, and special shield bonuses to AC. I don't personally find TWF stats without combat styles that bad, and I like just spending the DEX to afford it because then you can grab other essentials like double slice or something like that.

Keeping a DEX at a 17 will do perfectly. Greater Two Weapon Fighting is not a good idea.


I like the Yojimbo Samurai with a Nodachi and Shield Brace, myself.

Plenty of great orders to choose from for boosts, Dragon seems to be the most generic and best one since it grants Perception as a class skill and gives you a bonus to hit for melee attacks with Challenge, which is a vanilla smite.

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