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Kaskos
2010-08-20, 07:38 AM
Wonderi if anyone is bored enough to offer me some help with making a decision

We have a game starting soon -

Strict DM - no ToB and no Incarnum and it is v3.5.
And i dont think Psionics are allowed either and were gonig from level 1.
Stat wise i have a 17 and a 16 and lowest is a 10.

A friend of mine want to make a Gnome Barbarian as a bit of fun and i was gonna go cleric and smack stuff about etc - the only issue u have with that is a small race in full plate = Holy Crap You Are Slow.

Id like a combat class but not a barbarian and i want to have alot of fun with it (i think PHB2 is allowed but i cant get my hands on it right now so if this is mentioned can you offer as much info as possible please :smallsmile:

GodGoblin
2010-08-20, 07:45 AM
If Complete Warrior is allowed check out the Swashbuckler, HP and BaB same as fighter but has light armour. The class has abilites to combat this though also Int to damage with finesse weapons is great too.

If thats not your style then Scout (complete adventurer) is good but for core only you always have a good ol monk or ranger for light armoured fighting

Kaskos
2010-08-20, 07:47 AM
If Complete Warrior is allowed check out the Swashbuckler, HP and BaB same as fighter but has light armour. The class has abilites to combat this though also Int to damage with finesse weapons is great too.

If thats not your style then Scout (complete adventurer) is good but for core only you always have a good ol monk or ranger for light armoured fighting

We have most books jsut mainly the ones i mentioned not being allowed.

Shashbuckler isnt really me, but not ruled out at all.
And i have never seen a thread in here being nice to monks - especially in this case if i will be a race with -2 str and small dmg category

Greenish
2010-08-20, 07:47 AM
Get a riding dog and the speed won't be an issue.

hamishspence
2010-08-20, 07:50 AM
A charge-based character with a lance might do well with a riding dog.

Kaskos
2010-08-20, 07:50 AM
Get a riding dog and the speed won't be an issue.

Guarantee he will get it killed - he usually kills me with poisons and ****
(well, i say usually the one campaign i done with him before)

Kaskos
2010-08-20, 07:51 AM
A charge-based character with a lance might do well with a riding dog.

Already do that in a temporarily suspended game.

Halfling though

GodGoblin
2010-08-20, 07:53 AM
Try and get the wild cohort feat for the riding dog, it will gain in power as an animal companion but it works for any class, so hopefully it will be harder to kill.

A lance wielding Gnome knight on his full plate barded dog is a pretty awesome sight.

Greenish
2010-08-20, 07:53 AM
Guarantee he will get it killedGet a spare. Alternatively, ask him why he hates dogs/you.

[Edit]: http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/029/b/1/Halfling_Paladin_by_FStitz.jpg

Kaskos
2010-08-20, 07:56 AM
Try and get the wild cohort feat for the riding dog, it will gain in power as an animal companion but it works for any class, so hopefully it will be harder to kill.

A lance wielding Gnome knight on his full plate barded dog is a pretty awesome sight.

A 'knight' or you mean jsut some full plated kinda guy

But i have done the small guy riding the barded dog with a big ol lance.
Its one of my faves lol
But i am always lightly armoured with those characters

GodGoblin
2010-08-20, 07:57 AM
[Edit]: http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/029/b/1/Halfling_Paladin_by_FStitz.jpg

...So much win!

Edit- Well a fighter works just as well but i do like the knight class, you could always do a heavy armoured archer and ride around shooting stuff.

But for that you would want a good Wisdom and the Zen archery feat so max dex doesnt apply

Kaskos
2010-08-20, 07:59 AM
Get a spare. Alternatively, ask him why he hates dogs/you.

[Edit]: http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/029/b/1/Halfling_Paladin_by_FStitz.jpg

I think he was upset when he discovered technically, my half ling gets reach with a lance aswell as decent ish damage on a dog

Stompy
2010-08-20, 08:05 AM
And i have never seen a thread in here being nice to monks - especially in this case if i will be a race with -2 str and small dmg category

lol midget monk

You can look at the duskblade from PHB2; basically it is a fighting-type with spells and the ability to tack touch spells onto melee strikes. It's not a bad way to deal damage as a small character, although the touch spell to melee strike is at level 3.

Also, what is your full stat distribution? I ask because you don't need a great INT to go duskblade; a 12 can do for now. (which goes up to 14 with items later so you can cast 4th level spells.)

EDIT:
I think he was upset when he discovered technically, my half ling gets reach with a lance aswell as decent ish damage on a dog

I've had good times with this as well; good ol' 2 foot kobold with a 10 foot reach spiked chain.

Kaskos
2010-08-20, 08:12 AM
lol midget monk

You can look at the duskblade from PHB2; basically it is a fighting-type with spells and the ability to tack touch spells onto melee strikes. It's not a bad way to deal damage as a small character, although the touch spell to melee strike is at level 3.

Also, what is your full stat distribution? I ask because you don't need a great INT to go duskblade; a 12 can do for now. (which goes up to 14 with items later so you can cast 4th level spells.)

EDIT:

I've had good times with this as well; good ol' 2 foot kobold with a 10 foot reach spiked chain.

Full distribution is as follows:

17, 16, 14, 13, 12, 10

Beginning to think Gnome is a bad idea

Greenish
2010-08-20, 08:21 AM
Beginning to think Gnome is a bad ideaSmall characters usually aren't the absolute best for beatsticks, at least without precision damage, but can be made to work.

Duskblade as mentioned is a fun one, for example.

Stompy
2010-08-20, 08:33 AM
Small characters usually aren't the absolute best for beatsticks, at least without precision damage, but can be made to work.

Duskblade as mentioned is a fun one, for example.

...especially if the DM lets you get away with arcane casting while holding a two-handed weapon* without having to spend two feats (Eschew Materials, Somatic Weaponry) trying to do so by RAW. (I would ask the DM on this.) Then my suggestion is to grab power attack, a two-handed reach weapon, and True Strike until you hit level 3.

*The reasoning is you can just "hold the weapon with one hand and let it rest on the ground so you can cast with the other". This I don't believe is valid under RAW, but I've done this in a game with DM permission.

Telonius
2010-08-20, 08:35 AM
Is Unearthed Arcana allowed? Prestige Paladin (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm#prestigePaladin) can let you summon a mount, if you don't mind losing one caster level. You can always dismiss it if the combat is looking too dangerous.

Kaskos
2010-08-20, 08:36 AM
...especially if the DM lets you get away with arcane casting while holding a two-handed weapon* without having to spend two feats (Eschew Materials, Somatic Weaponry) trying to do so by RAW. (I would ask the DM on this.) Then my suggestion is to grab power attack, a two-handed reach weapon, and True Strike until you hit level 3.

*The reasoning is you can just "hold the weapon with one hand and let it rest on the ground so you can cast with the other". This I don't believe is valid under RAW, but I've done this in a game with DM permission.

Eschew materials we usually get away with unless its some huge 2000gp cost ruby or some such.

Dwarf Knight sounds plausible and i am reading up on Duskblade as we speak hehe

Greenish
2010-08-20, 08:38 AM
...especially if the DM lets you get away with arcane casting while holding a two-handed weapon* without having to spend two feats (Eschew Materials, Somatic Weaponry) trying to do so by RAW. (I would ask the DM on this.) Then my suggestion is to grab power attack, a two-handed reach weapon, and True Strike until you hit level 3.

*The reasoning is you can just "hold the weapon with one hand and let it rest on the ground so you can cast with the other". This I don't believe is valid under RAW, but I've done this in a game with DM permission.RAW doesn't define the actions needed to take grasp the weapon with your other hand when holding it with the other (dropping a weapon is a free action so letting go with just one hand is probably too), but Sage in a surprisingly coherent ruling calls it free action.

Project_Mayhem
2010-08-20, 08:40 AM
I don't see anything stopping the old scout/ranger swift hunter. Precision damage including undead or constructs (normally) so gnomes are back in.

Kaskos
2010-08-20, 09:07 AM
RAW doesn't define the actions needed to take grasp the weapon with your other hand when holding it with the other (dropping a weapon is a free action so letting go with just one hand is probably too), but Sage in a surprisingly coherent ruling calls it free action.

Duskblade seems interesting - they want to be a jack of all trades but not master of any?
Am losing faith in gnome lol

Greenish
2010-08-20, 09:09 AM
Duskblade seems interesting - they want to be a jack of all trades but not master of any?Not really. Duskblades are more like beatsticks who just happen to use some offensive magic. Their spell list isn't very versatile.

Kaskos
2010-08-20, 09:15 AM
Not really. Duskblades are more like beatsticks who just happen to use some offensive magic. Their spell list isn't very versatile.

I would have to wait til i got round to my friends to see PHBII as he only has it in PDF form *sigh*

Kaskos
2010-08-20, 09:33 AM
I would have to wait til i got round to my friends to see PHBII as he only has it in PDF form *sigh*

Does Dwarven Knight ever work?
I know they probably would go Dwarven Defender but - any views on those?

Greenish
2010-08-20, 10:04 AM
I know they probably would go Dwarven Defender but - any views on those?Aside from having poor offense and non-existent mobility, DD requires three crappy feats. Not worth it.

Knight's challenge is an interesting ability, but multiclassing hurts the DC. The class is pretty decent though, and dwarf's con bonus will come in handy. Dream Dwarf from RoS gets rid of the cha penalty, albeit at the cost of Dex.