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View Full Version : [3.5] Making a Knight-like Fighter in Midnight



overduegalaxy
2009-03-01, 03:36 PM
Our group has recently started a game set in Midnight. For those not familiar with the setting, it's an extremely low-magic, LotR-esque setting where the PCs are insurgents fighting a great evil. PC classes are also fairly limited, and Knight is not one of the available ones.

So the next best thing seems to be fighter. Since the rest of my group is fairly soft (rogue, channeler (mage), and defender (monk)), I need to keep enemies on me and provide flanking as best as possible. My DM took pity on me being stuck as a fighter, and gave me access to pretty much all 3.5 books for fighter feats (excluding ToB and ToM), but, having never played a fighter, I don't know the best ones to pick to really keep the focus on me.

I've already picked up Goad, in addition to Short Haft and Weapon Focus (Polearm) (we keep losing our weapons, but tend to find similar ones shortly afterwards, so my weapon focus is fairly fluid). What else can I do to make me Knightly without actually being able to take levels in Knight?

Temp.
2009-03-01, 04:29 PM
Here are my first thoughts on this:

Combat Reflexes is going to be important, as is a decent Dexterity score. Without it you won't get the attacks you'll need to contain the baddies.
Improved Trip and/or Stand Still (Expanded Psionics Handbook) will help keep enemies from just running by you to eat the rest of the party.
A Guisarme is going to be your best friend. It's a polearm that allows Trip attempts with Reach.
The PHB2 Alternate Class Features are all decent for this sort of thing; they trade attacks during your turn (which are nice, but not the point) for abilities that activate during the baddies' turns.
Complete Champion has the Resolute Alternate Class Feature. It lets you reduce your attack bonus as an immediate action to pad your Will save. This is typically one of the biggest things the Knight has going for it.
Mounted Combat/Ride-by Attack/Spirited Charge/Leadership are the feats you'll want if you want to get into mounted combat with a Fighter.
The Combat Focus/Stability/Vigor chain from the PHB2 seems pretty Knight-ish to me and all its bonuses are useful for front-line Fighters (Increased Will, bonuses to resist combat maneuvers, Fast Healing)
Robilar's Gambit (PHB2) is a nice feat for a Combat Reflex-user -- it makes you a slightly more appealing target and rewards you for being attacked.

Keld Denar
2009-03-01, 04:35 PM
EWP: Spiked Chain is mechanically superior in almost every way to Short Haft. Short Haft requires a swift action to switch grips, so you can only do it once per round. Once you choke up, you've lost your reach, which is the main reason to use a reach weapon. You've also given up your swift action so you can't use it for a ton of other things. With the advent of ToB and MIC, and some of the later completes, swift actions are now incredibly valuable.

If you don't like the fluff of a Spiked Chain (yea, its silly), then change it. Just call it an exotic polearm with multiple striking surfaces that can hit close or far. Done.

You've also saved yourself from taking a crappy feat like Weapon Focus. Take Martial Study:Steel Wind instead. That'll get you 2 attacks as a standard action once every combat. WAY better 9/10 times until you get your 3rd iterative at level 11.

EDIT:
Law Devotion from Complete Champion would be very knightly and make you harder to hit, or hit harder depending on what you focus each round. Probably be wise to take it twice so you have it available in more than 1 encounter per day.