3.5 dwarf in heavy plate

[kayden87]

I am wanting to make a.dwarven defender with heavy plate and the.exotic tower.shields(dont want mountianus plate, id like to charge first round) was windering whats the best.way to get a.but load of.ac. Even.tho Dwarven defenders are amazing allready. And templates or specialized feats?

[Psyren]

DwD is a trap, actually. You get really sturdy (and by "really" I mean "kinda") and the enemies walk around you anyway.

Do you have Tome of Battle? Deepstone Sentinel is the fixed version.

[kayden87]

You follow meeverywhere :P

Not at the moment at work, but at home I.have ToB

[Psyren]

You follow meeverywhere :P

iiiiiiiiiiiits a small board, aaaaaaaafter aaaaaaaalll.....

[Vladislav]

DwD is a trap, actually. You get really sturdy (and by "really" I mean "kinda") and the enemies walk around you anyway.
Get a Spiked Chain and a potion of Enlarge Person, and they won't walk around you so easily.

Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (SC), Combat Reflexes, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Knock-down, Delay Potion (walk around for several hours with a Potion of Enlarge Person in your system, activate it as swift action at any time).

If you don't have the coveted Int 13 for Combat Expertise, you can cheat around it by taking two levels of Wolf Totem Barbarian and get Improved Trip directly.

If you don't mind Book of Vile Darkness, there is a Willing Deformity that gives you reach without the need to chug a potion.

Oh, and get an Animated Shield, which is pricey, but you should be able to afford it by the time you enter the PrC.

[Silva Stormrage]

I second deepstone sentinel. MUCH better.

For items to boost ac a bunch of cheap items are better than one good one. A + 1 amulet of natural armor and a + 1 ring of protection is the same effect and cheaper than a + 2 amulet of natural armor.

Deepwarden from races of stone replaces dex to ac with con but I am unsure how good that class is.

Based on your stats this will be helpful too
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125732

[Kenneth]

deepstone sentinel is much better.

But do notfocus on trying to get your AC up. AC does not scale even half as good as attack bonuses. Instead try for miss chance. youd be surprised at just what a potion of Blur can do you save your behind.

[Gwendol]

Also, look at the Knight class (PHB II) to get some aggro and very useful bulwark of defence ability.

Tripping is somewhat situational though, so try to pick up e.g. the Standstill feat to complement your lock-down build.

[Drachasor]

Do you have Tome of Battle? Deepstone Sentinel is the fixed version.

Though, if you are in a more optimized group, this might require the DM providing a flying rock to move around on (and treating this as "the ground"). Also, a literal interpretation of the class mechanics (whether or not it makes sense if enemies aren't on the ground), hmm, and perhaps in some cases a liberal interpretation of those mechanics.

That said, a Dwarven Crusader is pretty cool by itself and is tough starting out.

[herrhauptmann]

I am wanting to make a.dwarven defender with heavy plate and the.exotic tower.shields(dont want mountianus plate, id like to charge first round) was windering whats the best.way to get a.but load of.ac. Even.tho Dwarven defenders are amazing allready. And templates or specialized feats?

*twitch* Are you using your cellphone or something to post?

Anyway, you're already going for the exotic armor, so grab the interlocking plate from Races of Stone. AC goes up 2 from printed number if you move 5ft or less.
For miss chances, one of your best bets is a Smoking weapon, from Lords of Darkness I believe. Grants half concealment like the Stinking Cloud spell.

If you REALLY REALLY want to boost your AC, start buying defending weapons, shield spikes, and armor spikes. I do believe those stack.

Deepwarden is intended for underground rangers, so the skills are nice. Most people like deepwarden 2, and don't go any further. After you get your con to AC, it's strictly meh. But it has good fort and will saves if I remember right. So taking it to the end is probably better than taking DD to the end.

[ericgrau]

Generally all you have to do is spread out your AC into multiple items: armor enhancement, shield enhancement, amulet of natural armor, ring of protection, dusty rose prism ioun stone. Then you get a better deal than if you focused on one particular item. At high levels get mithril armor. Depending on the books you have available you might get feats like armor specialization. I wouldn't get a defending weapon (I don't use or recommend unwielded defending weapon cheese; as minor as it may be it's just dumb) and I wouldn't use combat expertise most of the time, b/c as pointed out you want to stop anything that tries to get past you. Combat reflexes and/or a reach weapon might be nice. Depending on the books available you might get something like thicket of blades or some such too, or simply be a tripper. Save your defensive stance for hallways and doorways; the rest of the time you can rely on your nice stats. Even if you screw up remember ending the stance is a free action, so in spite of the hate the class gets there is in fact never any significant drawback.

[Saintheart]

Deepwarden from races of stone replaces dex to ac with con but I am unsure how good that class is.

It's a dip. Con to AC is about its best feature. Absent that it's basically a dwarven defender.

[herrhauptmann]

It's a dip. Con to AC is about its best feature. Absent that it's basically a dwarven defender.

With skillpoints!
Never forget the skillpoints.