Hard to Hit character

[Major]

So, I have a player rolling up a new character. Normally they play in the back using ranged weapons, only going in to sneak attack, or casting (depending on the character). Anyways, they told me today that they wanted this character to be able to fight on the front lines and that she didn't want to "be afraid" to go into combat due to dying.

Now then, I know how to make high HP builds, but getting high AC isn't quite my thing. Now then, in the campaign there is very little full casters (the goal was to let melee and other low tiers have a game). Now then, I was looking at Knight while looking at the handbook, but I was just curious what others would recommend I point out to the player.

She would be starting at level 8, wealth by level, and I'm open to almost anything published and am starting to open up to homebrew (within reason of course). It's 3.5, but I allow Pathfinder classes and feats.

[Little Brother]

Turtling isn't effective, but you might want to A) practice dodging books, and B) Off the top of my head, the best way to have high AC and not be a full caster would be something Feral Dwarf Chaos Monk 1/Barbarian X/Deepwarden 2/Fist of the Forest 1/Runescarred Berserker Y.

You get Wis+2Con+Absurd natural armor to AC, with one of the Cons replacing Dex, so you can dump it. And you get nice natural weapons.

[Major]

Turtling isn't effective, but you might want to A) practice dodging books, and B) Off the top of my head, the best way to have high AC and not be a full caster would be something Feral Dwarf Chaos Monk 1/Barbarian X/Deepwarden 2/Fist of the Forest 1/Runescarred Berserker Y.

You get Wis+2Con+Absurd natural armor to AC, with one of the Cons replacing Dex, so you can dump it. And you get nice natural weapons.

Heh, mix that with mineral warrior? :P

[Little Brother]

Heh, mix that with mineral warrior? :P

L.A. No, Feral is plenty. Wait, Mineral Warrior is a template? 'Cuz if not, it wouldn't even work with Deepwarden.

[King Atticus]

Wait, Mineral Warrior is a template? 'Cuz if not, it wouldn't even work with Deepwarden.

Yep, Mineral Warrior (Und p96) LA+1

[HunterOfJello]

Swordsage 1 dip grabbing the Child of Shadow stance would give 20% concealment to the character as long as they move 10 ft during combat. She could also grab Cloak of Deception and gain the ability to turn invisible as a swift action.


My preferred method for avoiding enemies as a Bard character was to get a few Wands of Swift Invisibility (1st level bard spell) attached to a weapon and cast it almost every round as a swift action. Attacking, Turning Invisible, and then moving quietly to another location was a pretty effective tactic.


The best methods for characters to avoid being attacked or taking damage is either a decent amount of Concealment or some form of Invisibility.

[Major]

L.A. No, Feral is plenty. Wait, Mineral Warrior is a template? 'Cuz if not, it wouldn't even work with Deepwarden.

LA isn't as big a deal when it gives as much as mineral warrior does. Plus since she most likely won't be a caster the LA matters even less. One LA for DR 8/adamantine, +4 con, +2 str, and -2 mental stats (not as useful on most melee types), +3 natural armor, etc more than makes up.

She could be a swordsage, but her teammate is a swordsage and most likely she won't want to be the same, even for a dip. But I'll mention it. She might not even want to be a Dwarf, I got to talk to her more.

Goal right now is get lots of ideas and see how many she wants.

[Zaq]

Does it have to be AC, or do other forms of melee toughness count? Because a vanilla Crusader is damn hard to kill, and only part of that is through AC. They don't even have to try very hard. Stone Power helps, but isn't strictly necessary.

Anyway, Good Incarnates can get some very nice AC (Incarnum Radiance + Good Incarnate Avatar + Crystal Helm + poach the Wormtail Belt = lots of AC), but it's easy to go overboard and leave yourself with nothing left to do but feebly taunt your opponent and hope they get sufficiently tired of you singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" (which is now stuck in my head . . . and yours, too. You're welcome) to actually kill you.

Whatever you do, if you go for a heavy armor route, you want the feat Deflective Armor, from Races of Stone. It adds your armor bonus (including enhancement, so get some plusses on there) to your touch AC, which can be most handy (perhaps less so in a low-magic world, but still, if something's going against your touch AC, it tends to HURT). A quick dip into PsyWar will get you most of the prereqs (a PP reserve, heavy armor proficiency, and a bonus feat to spend on the prerequisite feat), and two levels gets you there entirely without losing any more BAB.

Also, if you're open to weird races, check out the muckdweller, from Serpent Kingdoms. At level 1, buck naked and standing still, they have 18 AC (they're Tiny, so that's a +2, they have +3 nat armor, and they have +6 DEX), and that's before investing stats or choosing a class or anything. LA 0, so they're totally playable. You have to be cool with being a weird itty-bitty lizard thing from a book with a bad (though not undeserved) reputation, but if AC's your game, muckdwellers are a good place to start.

If you'd rather be a giant frog than a tiny lizard, neraphim get +2 nat armor. Also, thanks to the weird way the outsider proficiency rules work, they're proficient with shields if they're proficient with any armor, which can be amusing.

[King Atticus]

[QUOTE=Major;11936024] +3 natural armorQUOTE]

...and that's an "improvement" to your natural armor, so it should stack with any NA that your character starts out with.

[Major]

Does it have to be AC, or do other forms of melee toughness count? Because a vanilla Crusader is damn hard to kill, and only part of that is through AC. They don't even have to try very hard. Stone Power helps, but isn't strictly necessary.

Anyway, Good Incarnates can get some very nice AC (Incarnum Radiance + Good Incarnate Avatar + Crystal Helm + poach the Wormtail Belt = lots of AC), but it's easy to go overboard and leave yourself with nothing left to do but feebly taunt your opponent and hope they get sufficiently tired of you singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" (which is now stuck in my head . . . and yours, too. You're welcome) to actually kill you.

Whatever you do, if you go for a heavy armor route, you want the feat Deflective Armor, from Races of Stone. It adds your armor bonus (including enhancement, so get some plusses on there) to your touch AC, which can be most handy (perhaps less so in a low-magic world, but still, if something's going against your touch AC, it tends to HURT). A quick dip into PsyWar will get you most of the prereqs (a PP reserve, heavy armor proficiency, and a bonus feat to spend on the prerequisite feat), and two levels gets you there entirely without losing any more BAB.

Also, if you're open to weird races, check out the muckdweller, from Serpent Kingdoms. At level 1, buck naked and standing still, they have 18 AC (they're Tiny, so that's a +2, they have +3 nat armor, and they have +6 DEX), and that's before investing stats or choosing a class or anything. LA 0, so they're totally playable. You have to be cool with being a weird itty-bitty lizard thing from a book with a bad (though not undeserved) reputation, but if AC's your game, muckdwellers are a good place to start.

If you'd rather be a giant frog than a tiny lizard, neraphim get +2 nat armor. Also, thanks to the weird way the outsider proficiency rules work, they're proficient with shields if they're proficient with any armor, which can be amusing.

I'll make note of those. While she mentioned AC as her main goal the reason was because she wanted to be able to enter up-close combat without risking dying (she normally plays a squishy) so hard to kill works.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Water Orc (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/elementalRacialVariants.htm#racesOfWater), Dragonborn (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20060105b), Mineral Warrior (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20031003e), in that order. Pay 3,000 xp to get rid of the +1 LA. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm) Gaining Mineral Warrior after Dragonborn means you don't lose any of the Mineral Warrior benefits. You could even use the Wings aspect for Dragonborn and still get a fly speed, since Mineral Warrior only removes whatever fly speed you already had when it was gained. You'll still gain the fly speed when you hit 6th level. You can't fly if you're carrying more than a light load, but note that medium armor does not necessarily constitute a medium load (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#fly). That means you'll have a land, swim, burrow, and fly speed.

Crusader from Tome of Battle is probably the best tanking class in the game. Between the damage reduction from Mineral Warrior, and the interaction between the Crusader's delayed damage pool with Stone Power and strikes that heal himself, the character can be extremely difficult to kill. If you allow flaws (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm) (UA) then Bravado from Dragon 328 should be fitting, which was intended for half-orcs but would suit an orc just fine. The character can't benefit from any Dodge bonuses to AC, and cannot use the Withdraw action, since he never shows weakness or backs down from an opponent. A character can have up to two flaws, for two extra feats. Traits (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm) are also useful and you can get up to two, Quick would give +10 ft. land speed (and +5 ft. burrow speed from Mineral Warrior) and its drawback can be negated with the Improved Toughness feat. That would make for a relentless warrior who would probably end up getting himself into trouble quite often, but could likely handle it better than most. Ability scores should prioritize Str > Con > Dex > everything else.

I'd just go Crusader 8, and with two flaws get Extra Granted Maneuver, Stone Power, Shield Specialization, Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm)*, and Shield Ward. For flaws I'd get Bravado and probably Shaky or Murky-Eyed, with the Quick trait since his Con should be high enough to easily make up the HP loss. Stances should be Bolstering Voice, Martial Spirit, and Thicket of Blades, maneuvers known at 8th level should be Divine Surge, White Raven Tactics, Revitalizing Strike, Defensive Rebuke, Battle Leader's Charge, Mountain Hammer, Charging Minotaur, and Crusader's Strike. With 8th level WBL, items should be a +1 heavy steel shield, +1 Blurring (MIC) Breastplate, a Healing Belt (MIC), a +1 Cloak of Resistance, an Anklet of Translocation (MIC), and your item familiar: a +1 Wrathful Healing piercing one-handed melee weapon, detailed below. Flying creatures can make a dive attack with a piercing weapon, as per Races of the Dragon; I'd make it a trident, he is a water orc after all.

Item Familiars are great, you pay full price for the initial item which must be at least 2,000 gp, a +1 weapon in this case, and then you can upgrade it yourself as though you had all the proper feats. Just say you hired an NPC spellcaster or convinced another party member to cast any necessary spells for the upgrade. Wrathful Healing is in Enemies and Allies, it costs a +3 and requires a casting of Regenerate to craft (NPC spellcasting standard fee is 910 gp), and any time the weapon deals damage the wielder is healed for half of that amount. So you pay the initial 2,000 gp plus the masterwork weapon price for the +1 weapon, make it an item familiar, and the price to upgrade it to a +4 equivalent weapon is 30,000 gp, so you'd pay 15,000 gp and 1,200 xp. That puts you down a total of 4,200 xp between this and buying off that +1 LA, but Invest Experience gives you a 10% bonus to your current and future XP. Minimum for 8th level is 28,000, +10% is 30,800, minus the 4,200 leaves you with 26,600 xp total, only 1,400 short of 8th level. If the game is starting at the minimum for 8th level then this character will have to start at 7th and will likely hit 8th after the first session, which is acceptable. Do note that an item familiar is an intelligent item and thus considered a construct, so it cannot be dispelled or disjoined and functions in an antimagic field, and it's considerably difficult to destroy; get a lock gauntlet just in case.

For your skills, you're probably going to have a low Int score (in the neighborhood of 6 or 8) and you're going to definitely want max ranks in Balance. Jump, Intimidate, and Diplomacy are also useful, and you can trade Ride for Tumble (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) as a class skill, although you can't use Tumble in armor that slows your land speed but 5 ranks still gives you a synergy bonus. You can invest skill ranks into your item familiar to gain a free bonus to checks with certain skills, if you gain Item Familiar at 3rd level you can invest all of your 4th+ level skill ranks into it. I'd probably put most of that toward Balance and Jump.

Your readied maneuvers should be Divine Surge, Revitalizing Strike, White Raven Tactics, Battle Leader's Charge, and Mountain Hammer. I'd use Bolstering Voice most of the time, though Martial Spirit is useful if you or your party is taking a lot of damage. Your tactics will largely depend on which maneuvers you have available, but some should take priority over others.

Ideally, you'll want to begin with a dive attack using Battle Leader's Charge.
Use White Raven Tactics every time it's available to give yourself another turn, yes it does work that way (PHB p304, 'ally' refers to yourself by default unless the ability says otherwise).
Use Divine Surge whenever possible.
Use Revitalizing Strike if you or one of your party members has taken damage, or if you have damage in your delayed pool.
Use Mountain Hammer or a full attack along with Stone Power if you've taken damage and/or have damage in your delayed pool.

Your Earth Strike ability from Mineral Warrior is useful if you have difficulty hitting an opponent, it's especially good to ensure that a Revitalizing Strike or Divine Surge lands. With Extra Granted Maneuver you'll be able to use each of your readied maneuvers every three rounds. That means every three rounds you'll get four turns with White Raven Tactics, so you'll have one Divine Surge, one Revitalizing Strike, and two rounds to mix in Battle Leader's Charge+Dive Attack, Stone Power, and full attacks. You can use the Anklet of Translocation to get out of one opponent's reach without provoking an AoO to Dive Attack an opponent who's attacking another party member.

[Mystral]

Another thing to consider would be a defensively focused gish. Make her go Fighter 2/Wizard4/Spellsword1/Abjurant champion1. She'll have an AC of 10 +5 (Shield) + 6 (Radiant Armor) = 21 from Armor and Shield Bonus alone. That AC will rise by 2 for every level of abjurant champion, up to 29 at Level 12. And that's before she gets her deflection bonus, Dex bonus, natural AC and so on. Plus, Radiant Armor gives everyone who attacks her in melee -4 on all atttacks. If you don't want to allow radiant armor, making mage armor and greater mage armor abjuration spells instead of conjuration spells works too. Abjurant Champion is a bit broken in that regard.

That's a usable defense right there, but it gets better. She'll be able to invest more money in defensive items because she won't have to buy a shield or armor, she'll still be able to use a two-handed weapon, and she can shore up her defenses with defensive spells like mirror image, displacement, blink, protection from evil, fly and so on. She should pick her skills to switch into sacred exorcist at level 13, and she's good to go until level 20.

[Feytalist]

If the goal is simply "hard-to-hit", miss chance is as good as any. There are various ways to get it: displacement, blink, cloaks and rings of same, etc. It can be fooled and requires you to be a caster (or some heavy expenses), but is generally just as good a bet (if not better) than straight-up armour.

[Killer Angel]

If the goal is simply "hard-to-hit", miss chance is as good as any.

...and works also against caster opponents.


It can be fooled and requires you to be a caster (or some heavy expenses), but is generally just as good a bet (if not better) than straight-up armour.

But, given that you're going to save some money for armor / shield, it can be done...

[Darth_Versity]

+1 for Crusader. If not being afraid that the character may die is the goal, then crusaders fit the bill perfectly. They are DnDs answer to the Tank and happily sit on the front lines taking damage and dishing out more with hardly a care in the world as to what is happening to their HP.

[BlueInc]

*Godly*

The Opt-Fu is strong in this one.

[Greenish]

Unless you're playing at higher optimization, a look into Guide for Fighting Defensively (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178445) might be helpful.