Ideas for LVL 2

[Thefurmonger]

Hey all so most of you are familliar with the rules for the arena here on the boards.

Fot those that are not This is where you can learn more (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118846)

Anyway currently I am having good luck with a LVL 1 Lion totem (CC), Whirling frenzy (UA), Dragonborn Water Orc (UA and RoD) Barbarian. Who makes good use of travel devotion (CC) to get charges set up, then getting 2 attacks at +8 while pouncing. As I said, thus far I have had decent luck.
It is worth noting that he has a +20 jump check ATM, not sure if it helps you much but it is spiffy.

This is his Character Sheet (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=173082) if you want to see the whole thing.

Anyway. I will hit level 2 with a few more wins and have no idea where to go from here.

Thoughts.

With a High Con I have thought Incarnum? maybe totemist? (I already took the feat to get rage claws but could retrain out if need be)

Perhaps Warblade? I know NOTHING about TOB tho I do own it. Please give detailed advice.

I know it sounds odd, but cloistered cleric? trade all 3 domains for devotion feats? sadly my Wis and Cha mean that all i would get is the feats, still not half bad tho.

**EDIT** Are there any good Vissages(Sp?) you know the binder people, again i have the book but dont know much about it.
Thanks for the advice.

[tyckspoon]

Totemist is a good fit, although it won't actually do much for your offensive capabilities until you can take Totemist 2 and get the Totem bind. If you take it, I would probably go Wormtail Belt (Natural Armor) and Rageclaws (Diehard + an expanded range until actual death with Essentia investment) for your initial soulmelds. If you survive long enough to reach the relevant levels Totem Rager is an excellent PrC for exactly this kind of character (retrain that Shape Soulmeld to Cobalt Rage or Cobalt Charge. Or another Shape Soulmeld- there's some choice picks in the Soulborn list, like the Thunderstep Boots.)

Tome of Battle is never a bad addition to a melee character. The Charging Minotaur strike + Punishing Stance would be good additions to your character- when you charge, you'll hit for an extra 2d6 + Str, initiate a bull rush to throw your opponent away, and deal +1d6 more on all your attacks. You will take -2 AC from the stance, but let's be honest here, any half-way optimized opponent who cares about your AC is hitting AC 14 pretty easily already. Swift Leap from Tiger Claw would give you another swift movement option when/if you expend your Travel Devotion effect.

I think in the long run going incarnum will be more interesting and make your Barbarian-ness more relevant beyond just getting an easy means of Pounce. Warblade is going to be more powerful, but it won't make all that much use of your Barbarian level.

[Greenish]

The Charging Minotaur strike + Punishing Stance would be good additions to your character- when you charge, you'll hit for an extra 2d6 + Str, initiate a bull rush to throw your opponent away, and deal +1d6 more on all your attacks.The Charging Minotaur only allows you to do a Bull Rush and deal 2d6+str damage (+d6 from Punishing Stance) with it. You don't get a normal hit when using it, as I understood the maneuver.

[tyckspoon]

Ahh.. you're probably right, although Bull Rush is kind of weird now that I look at it. It could be interpreted as being in used in place of one attack on a charge, which would let you Bull Rush + attack if you have pounce and multiple attacks. That's probably not going to fly in a referee'd match, tho. It could still be a useful maneuver to have for approaching reach fighters, since one of the other special properties of the maneuver is that its movement doesn't provoke AoO.

[Greenish]

Ahh.. you're probably right, although Bull Rush is kind of weird now that I look at it. It could be interpreted as being in used in place of one attack on a charge, which would let you Bull Rush + attack if you have pounce and multiple attacks. That's probably not going to fly in a referee'd match, tho. It could still be a useful maneuver to have for approaching reach fighters, since one of the other special properties of the maneuver is that its movement doesn't provoke AoO.Yeah, that and not having to follow the target regardless of how far you push it are the great things about the maneuver, in my opinion. The damage is just sugar on the top.

[Thefurmonger]

Thanks for the ideas guys I'm reading TOB right now.

Keep em comming.

Thanks again.

Also for those that are not fammilier. the current arena tops out at LVL 3, not to say thats the end, but thats the highest lvl character right now.

So really anything I do has to give a lot NOW. a build that waits till 4th-6th to get going sadly wont work in this format. (That was mostly in reply to the few PMs i got)

[tyckspoon]

Immediate payoff? Definitely Tome of Battle. It's a shame your skills are so horrible; Diamond Mind's Concentration-in-place-of-save counters would cover some huge holes in your build, and the Will save one is a first-level maneuver.

[Thefurmonger]

Yeah the skill issue has come up in a few matches. as has the... um... less then awsome will save.

And thanks again for the input

Really thus far its been all about winning the movement game and getting the charge, 27 effective HP and DR/3 helps a lot tho.

[Greenish]

Just noticed that you've several loaded slings with you. That's a nifty trick I'm going to steal, cheers. :smallbiggrin:

[Thefurmonger]

Just noticed that you've several loaded slings with you. That's a nifty trick I'm going to steal, cheers. :smallbiggrin:

Wish I could say I came up with it, but yeah it works a treat :biggrin: