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Brauron
2010-02-19, 05:47 PM
So, a friend of mine is starting a D&D 3.5 campaign, and has asked me to make a 2nd-level character. He told me the following books were open for use: PHB, PHB II, and all the Completes.

I decided to do something a little out of the ordinary, while also utilizing a race and class I've never played (I tend towards humans and dwarves). The description of the Knight class mentions that Half-Orcs rarely get the opportunity to become Knights, but that they're not unheard of (and their STR bonus serves them well).

I should note that nobody in this group is particularly geared towards optimization.

I rolled really well for stats, and my character currently looks like this, having taken racial modifiers into account:

STR 19
DEX 14
CON 17
INT 13
WIS 12
CHA 15

FORT +3
REF +2
WILL +4

HP: 29
AC: 19
FLAT: 17
TOUCH: 12
INIT: +2
BAB: +2

Ride +7, Intimidate +7, Climb +7, Swim +6 (ranks and ability modifiers, armor check penalties not factored in)

and tentatively outfitted with a Masterwork Breastplate, a Masterwork Heavy Steel Shield, a Masterwork Battleaxe, mundane Flail, and mundane Shortspear.

As a Knight, he gets Mounted Combat as a bonus feat at second level, but I haven't decided on his first-level feat yet. Some options I was considering were Combat Reflexes or Shield Specialization (Heavy) from PHB II.

Any other suggestions?

AslanCross
2010-02-19, 05:53 PM
You could go for Shock Trooper if you want high damage output. A mounted charging build would work very well with that.

The Lance is the best mounted charging weapon, but of course you'd need a backup weapon for hand to hand combat.

Combat Reflexes is best used with a Reach weapon such as a glaive or guisarme. That works quite well for defensive knight builds.

Pluto
2010-02-19, 06:21 PM
As a Knight, he gets Mounted Combat as a bonus feat at second level, but I haven't decided on his first-level feat yet. Some options I was considering were Combat Reflexes or Shield Specialization (Heavy) from PHB II.

Any other suggestions?
If you get Shield Specialization, also grab Shield Ward. It's a very useful feat.

If you get Combat Reflexes, look at Stand Still (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#standStill) from the Expanded Psionics Handbook (nothing's psionic about the feat, though).

Other feats that could be worthwhile include Goad from Complete Adventurer, Ride-by-Attack (eventually grabbing Spirited Charge for Massive Damage) and Leadership at later levels (9th or higher) for a sturdy mount.

HailDiscordia
2010-02-19, 07:16 PM
You've got the INT for Combat Expertise, which will make you very hard to kill with those hit points. And Knights have some sort of ability that make people attack them? Your party will love you for it.

Fenix_of_Doom
2010-02-19, 08:16 PM
You've got the INT for Combat Expertise, which will make you very hard to kill with those hit points. And Knights have some sort of ability that make people attack them? Your party will love you for it.

I think that doesn't kick in until level 5 though.

I say you can't go wrong with power attack, though a combat expertise improved trip build could also be nice

Roderick_BR
2010-02-19, 08:29 PM
If you get Shield Specialization, also grab Shield Ward. It's a very useful feat.

If you get Combat Reflexes, look at Stand Still (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#standStill) from the Expanded Psionics Handbook (nothing's psionic about the feat, though).

Other feats that could be worthwhile include Goad from Complete Adventurer, Ride-by-Attack (eventually grabbing Spirited Charge for Massive Damage) and Leadership at later levels (9th or higher) for a sturdy mount.

Seconded for Stand Still and a reach weapon. When you get the ability to force people to attack you, and you simply makes them stop dead on their tracks and wasting their full attacks, your party will have all the time to kill stuff. Knights are among the best non-magic battlefield controllers.

Note that some of the knight's abilities are based on Cha, so the half orc's penalty hurts it a little, but it's not a huge hit against him.

D-naras
2010-02-19, 08:37 PM
If Wizards on-line material is open for use, the there is the Wild Cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) feat that gives you an animal companion with fewer bonuses. That way you can have a horse or other mount from level 1 and don't end up wasting your bonus feats on Iron Will and Endurance, assuming that you stick to knight.

Brauron
2010-02-20, 05:33 PM
Thanks for the advice, folks. I'm going to model an axe-and-shield Shield Specialization Knight, and a Glaive-wielding Combat Reflexes Knight, and see how they compare. I need to check with the DM to see if XPH is on the approved-books list.