Help in The Art of Not Dying

[Fyermind]

I would like to make a karmic strike + rolibar's gambit + stormguard warrior. I am a little worried about surviving the round of +8 tp hit +4 damage (giants with power attack do +16 damage or more), and would like to avoid draining resources to heal frequently. I think the solution lies in feats, items, spells, class features I can dip for, racial features, and anything else you can think of that decreases the average damage per attack to my character.

Ideas I have had so far:

Wall of blades: counter maneuver uses attack instead of AC. Great for 1 of the rain of attacks.

Concealment: not sure where to get iit from, but a miss % that doesn't go away seems perfect

Damage reduction: good, but might not be enough to soak up all that damage

AC boosts: Cool, but -8 is a lot to make up

Combat expertise/fighting defensively + tumble: technically an AC boost but this is the only effective way I am seeing. Since my AoOs will be touch attacks for accuracy and damage boosts, I can handle a penalty. (as an aside does tumble help in bulky armor when fighting defensively?)

Regeneration: Nice work if you can get it.

If the defenses are too good Goad or the like may be necessary to encourage being attacked. This is not the end of the world. Still invisibility may not solve the problem as I must be attacked to get my goodies and attacking a nearby square expecting to find me doesn't count.

As a note anything published in a hardcover book or web enhancement by WOTC is allowed, anything else is not.

Edit--
Since Karmic strike requires being hit, I am looking for specific ways to get hit hard and not die.

Stone Power (ToB) is good for up to 10 temporary HP cushioning things a little bit.

[Frosty]

You need one of them cloaks that grant 20% or 50% miss chance. Those are golden.

[aeauseth]

I've never been a fan of Karmic Strike because you have to get hit in melee before you get any benefit from it. So increasing your AC would seem to be counterproductive.

I think your best bet for this type of build is massive hit points + damage reduction. Put your foes down ASAP and then use a healing belt (or whatever) to fix yourself after the fight is over. Nothing wrong with having several healing belts and keep swapping them out until your topped off.

You could throw in Shock Trooper (CW 112) Heedless Charge, plus prereqs to floor your AC. This will take full advantage of your Karmic Strike after which you should be able to put your foe down in one round (maybe two).

I made a level 14 Thor-ish (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Mjolnir_Bloodstorm_-Thor) character (Barbarian/Fighter/Crusader/Warblade/MasterThrower/BloodstormBlade) and used a +3 Heavy goliath greathammer. Took the -14 AC during a headless charge to do +30/+30/+25/+20 (4d6+48). My AC dropped to 18 but I could do 150-200 points of damage in a single round. DM hated it and he was summoned to Valhalla to fight with the gods.

[Fyermind]

I've never been a fan of Karmic Strike because you have to get hit in melee before you get any benefit from it.

Thanks, missed that.

Specifics on how to get that DR and where healing belts are would be great.

[aeauseth]

Healing Belts are 750g and can be found in the Magic Item Compendium (pg110).

Barbarian or Iron Ward Diamond (MiC 26) are two DR sources. I'm sure other posters may have other suggestions.

[aeauseth]

Take a look at the 8th level devoted spirit Immortal Fortitude stance in the Tome of Battle (pg 51)? The short description is "You cannot die due to hit point damage."

Downside is you have to be a Crusader 15 before you can take it.

[kabreras]

Make others fight for you...
Thats what every wizards does and everyone know the wizards live a long time (at least the ones that are good at it).

[Godskook]

Take a look at the 8th level devoted spirit Immortal Fortitude stance in the Tome of Battle (pg 51)? The short description is "You cannot die due to hit point damage."

The long description isn't quite so epic, but is still quite good.

[Doughnut Master]

Also, get a Wrathful Healing weapon.

Killing makes you stronger.

[Fyermind]

Elusive Target (Complete Warrior)
Cons:
Requires dodge (meh) and mobility (even more meh)

Pros:
Immunity to power attack.
A few other neat abilities
Did I mention IMMUNITY TO POWER ATTACK?

With a tanked AC, everybody and his uncle ought to be power attacking to pile on all the damage they can. This should save you from quite a

[Slipperychicken]

You need one of them cloaks that grant 20% or 50% miss chance. Those are golden.

Or get a Smoking Weapon (+1 weapon enhancement. Might work on Armor Spikes too). 20% miss chance all the time. Get your casters to buff you with Mirror Image (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/mirrorImage.htm); that makes you near-unhittable, unless your enemy can see through illusions somehow. Make your enemies take a 1/7 chance to swing at the "right" you, then 20% miss chance, THEN your AC :smallamused:


EDIT: Shadow Cloak, from Drow of the Underdark 101. 3/day immediate 10ft teleport. It's like saying "ignore 3 attacks per day for 5500gp and a shoulders slot".

[Phaederkiel]

there is a golden possibility: stone warrior template.

It will make you a little bit mad

(since you need str 13+ [power attack for shock trooper], int 13+[combat expertise for Karmic] and con and dex would be nice to have, too)

But with dmg reduction 8/adamantine Enemies will have a hard time stopping you. Burrow speed is nice, too.

Feat count:

Dodge
Combat expertise
Karmic strike (together with shock trooper, this is incredibly good)

Improved Bull rush
Power Attack
Shock Trooper (incredibly good, with or without anything else)

Mobility
Elusive Target (denying power attack is great, but free trip attempts for missed AoO are really good, too. I would say better than the rest)

evasive reflexes ( 5 ft step instead an AoO? Defeats any Full attack)

Robilars Gambit

perhaps:

improved trip, to take advantage of the elusive target trips.
Deft opportunist (+4 on AoO attack rolls? This build loves this)


As you can see, the price is steep. If you are allowed flaws, Knight has some nice synergies. If not, Fighter or even (shudder) monk lvls seem needed.
But its some very powerful combination.

And there is the problem. The DM will be hard pressed to find enemies that can damage a stony warrior but do not absolutely crush the other players.

I have this (karmic striking knight) stony in my campaign, I had to nerf him to Dmg reduction= 1/2 lvl +1 and yet he is nearly indestructible if I do not wish to one hit other players.

oh, and equipment:

Healing belt is top quality
Amulet of tears gives up to 24 temp hitpoints at once, lifesaver
Counterstrike bracers (you can AoO on a missed attack against you 2x per day
Bracers of Opportunity (+2 bonus on AoO attack rolls, 2 x per day one more AoO, combine with above)
Steadfast boots (brokenly good when using RAW)
There is an armor stone which gives +1 Dmg reduction for 500 gold. This one stacks with your armor reduction.
There is an weapon stone which gives 1 lifeleech per hit for very little gold. Its nice to have.

Last word: add some crusader to the mix, especially when you do not go knight.

[Tr011]

I don't see what is bad in beeing not hit while using Karmic Strike.

Either you hit, get hit, AoO+AoO for 3 hits for getting damaged once or you hit, get not hit, AoO for a total of 2 hits for not getting damaged.

If you improve the enemy's chance to miss you, you eventually make one AoO less per round, that is quiet good for not taking damage at all. Except if you fear that your party kills all the enemies while you don't "do enough damage" in X turns.

[Fyermind]

So feat list total:

Karmic Strike (CWar): hits provoke AoOs

Rolibar's Gambit (PHB2): attacks provoke AoOs

Combat Reflexes (PHB): +dex AoOs/round

Dodge (PHB): Prereq.

Combat Expertise (PHB): Prereq.

Mobility (PHB): Get into position without dying, prereq.

Elusive Target (CWar): Trip AoO against missed AoO, Negate Power Attack

Sidestep (Miniatures Handbook): 5' step instead of AoO. Foil any full attack

Stormguard Warrior (with Warblade dip): sacrifice AoO for +4 attack and damage next round, touch attack to give +5 damage next round, bonus fighting defensively against lots of foes.

Ironheart Aura: prereq

That's 10 feats already.
Other cool things:
Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Shock Trooper.
Lots of bonus attacks at full BAB? POWER ATTACK TIME! Shock trooper always rocks. (thanks to Phaederkiel)

Two-weapon fighting, improved Two-weapon fighting, Dual Hit (miniatures handbook).
Dual hit doubles every AoO with the off hand. With Stormguard Warrior that means every AoO you forgo is +8 attack and damage next round. Two weapon fighting with lots of iterative attacks, that should add up.

The two weapon style is less MAD than the Shock trooper, but more of a one trick pony. Might need Weapon Finesse to be effective. (aka Swashbuckler dip)

This many feats seems impossible without gestalt, flaws, and dipping every bonus feat I can (Fighter, feat rogue, psychic warrior, swashbuckler, monk?) the plus side of this is that this can all parallel Crusader/Warblade shenanigans.

Is there any way to pull this off (w/ rolibar's) by 12 non-gestalt?

[Phaederkiel]

see if you can talk your dm into flaws...

especially interesting if you take the one that reduces your ac by 1. you want to get hit. Especially since i forgot to tell you that stony has (i think) 3 natural armor added, which can be hindering :)

I do not think you need both shocktrooper and stormguard. How much damage do you need to deal?


I mean on lvl 12 you can shocktrooper for +24 dmg, you will have probably at least a +3 dmg from strength, and +1 from your weapon.

Lets say you charge the monster with a keen falchion (2d4, 15-20 x2), which is in my opinion the best weapon to spread your crits and thus your dmg.
you will deal 2d4 +28 on your initial charge and everytime someone attacks you,
with a 3/10 chance to do 4d4+56.

If whoever you charged survived the experience, you are in handy full attack range. If he attacks you twice, you go for 4 AoO with (assumed you have deft opportunist and bracers of opportunity) +18 to hit.
Chances are, you are going to hit 3 out of 4, with a good crit chance. lets say you crit once.

who is going to survive 8d4 + 112 ?

I haven´t seen stormguard warrior in action quite as much (i would quite like to see a runthrough like mine above), but i rather think you do not need both.

question is: which one is better?

ok, about the build:

i think you mean evasive reflexes and no sidestep. Has much easier prereqs.
And I think that if you go wih two weapons, classical Jack b Quick uses High Sword Low Axe, event though this has an awful lot of prerequisites.

Let us assume you want to use the following feats:

Karmic Strike, Robilar, Combat reflexes (which i forgot to include, upsy), dodge, Combat expertise, Mobility, evasive reflexes, elusive target, Ironheart aura, Stormguard warrior.

10 feats, as you wrote it. Am I right thinking that stormguard warrior makes deft opportunist unappealing?

human fighter 12 gives you: 1 feat (human), 4 feats (Lvl) and 7 feats (fighter). 12 Feats alltogether. So why should you not be able to go for it?

These kind of builds are ways to make a full fighter viable...

You can also go Monk

Monk 2 (overpowering), fighter 10, which gives you
1 (human), improved bull rush and power attack (monk) 4 (lvl) and 6 (fighter)
you still get 11 feats to do what you want with, need only 8. You even get good saves, better skillpoints and way better skills. You are a Monk, though.

Perhaps this one can be made as the two weapon fighter. Using 2 kamas and Flurry, Stormguard would make you hit, thus mitigating the usual monk Problems. That you cannot wear armor is not that hard for a Character that wants to get hit.

Knight

The Character in my campaign is a human gone Stony with 3 Flaws.
(This is a lot, but one of them gives her -6 to initiative, so i am ok with that)

6 lvl Knight (4 would do, for bulwark of defense and test of mettle)
2 lvl fighter (for bullrush and shocktrooper)
2 lvl crusader.

The 5th knight lvl provided her with quickdraw, which she uses to constantly switch between a glaive for reach, a falchion for attacking and a hammer and towershield for defending.

Feats in order of taking:

Shaky, Vulnerable, Dodge, combat expertise, combat reflexes, Karmic Strike, deft opportunist, quickdraw, Power Attack, improved bullrush, shock trooper, unreactive, elusive target.

TL;DR: it works.

The monk version could even squeeze in the 2 weapon, improved 2 weapon and double strike.

[Fyermind]

I do not think you need both shocktrooper and stormguard. How much damage do you need to deal?

.....

I haven´t seen stormguard warrior in action quite as much (i would quite like to see a runthrough like mine above), but i rather think you do not need both.


Two weapon fighting with kukri with feats
Karmic Strike, double hit, stormguard warrior, two weapon fighting, improved two weapon fighting (level 8 or so for these and pre requisites sine stormguard and improved two weapon and double hit require bab +6)

Assume you get hit three times.
Sacrifice 6 attacks is +24 damage +24 to hit.
Full attack is then 4 attacks that better all hit (probably+36 or more to hit) each for 1d4+24 is 4d4+96 averaging 106 damage per round.

That is if you don't win initiative or charge.

If you get a round beforehand to prep:
full attack of touch attacks is +20 damage to all attacks next turn (you shouldn't be missing touch attacks.) that increases damage by 80 to 186 damage per round.

This is assuming strength 10 and no crits. Since you should have keen kukri around that time and grab a crit, 5d4+120 (+100 with prep round) or 132.5-232.5 damage depending on initiative.

Pros:
Not dependent on initiative or charge
Less MAD (high dex, decent int)
incredible bonuses to hit, so very little need to boost to hit
Gains huge benefits from extra attacks

Cons:
Lacks potent damage without getting splattered all over the floor.
Low strength makes the build very week until level 6 with stormguard warrior (consider using maneuvers and stances to mitigate)

[Daftendirekt]

there is a golden possibility: stone warrior template.

It will make you a little bit mad

(since you need str 13+ [power attack for shock trooper], int 13+[combat expertise for Karmic] and con and dex would be nice to have, too)

But with dmg reduction 8/adamantine Enemies will have a hard time stopping you. Burrow speed is nice, too.

For the sake of not confusing OP, I should point out that the template is mineral warrior, not stone warrior.

[u-b]

Anyone casting Delay Death on you?

[Phaederkiel]

For the sake of not confusing OP, I should point out that the template is mineral warrior, not stone warrior.

oops. yes, i am afraid you are right. It is still golden as a way not to die.

[hex0]

Swiftblade?

[Randomguy]

If you're taking elusive target, you can also take the combat focus and then combat defence from PHB2, so if you're about to be power attacked by a charging frenzied berserker who you haven't targeted with your dodge feat, you can change it as an immediate action. If you can afford the feat cost, that is.

Frenzied berserker gets you deathless frenzy, if you can get into that PrC somehow.

Finding a way to be immune to damage in general would work (Troll+immunity to nonlethal damage+acid immunity + fire immunity + poison immunity (against trollbane poison).

Would a ring of friend shield work, with a warblade, crusader, knight and barbarian having the other ring?

You could be a crusader with mostly healing maneuvers.

[Coidzor]

You need one of them cloaks that grant 20% or 50% miss chance. Those are golden.

Minor Cloak of Displacement. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#cloakofDisplacementMinor) It's superior to the major one due to being permanent rather than only 15 rounds per day.

Might be a soulmeld or two that could help here as well...

[Fyermind]

The Build Draft 1:
Race: Stony Strongheart Halfling (mineral warrior template) LA +1
Flaws: Shaky (-2 ranged), vulnerable (-1 AC)
Abilities:(32 point) str 10, dex 20, con 18, int 13, wis 6, cha 6 (roleplaying this moron will be fun)
Class and feats and features:

Warblade 1:
Combat reflexes, combat expertise, dodge, karmic strike, Punishing Stance (-2 AC, +1d6 damage), Steely Strike (enemies +4 to hit, you +4 to hit), Steel Wind, Stone Bones

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1:
Rage 1/day, pounce (Complete Champion lion totem)

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/fighter 1:
Two Weapon fighting, Ironheart Aura

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 2:
Mobility, +1 con/dex?

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/ Fighter 3:
meh

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 4:
Stormguard Warrior, Improved Two-weapon fighting

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 5:
meh

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 6:
Dual hit, +1 con/dex (same as before)

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 6/Swashbuckler 1:
Weapon finesse

Warblade 2/barbarian 1/Fighter 6/Swashbuckler 1:
Iron Heart Surge

Warblade 3/barbarian 1/Fighter 6/Swashbuckler 1:
Mithril Tornado

Warblade 4/barbarian 1/Fighter 6/Swashbuckler 1:
Rolibar's Gambit, Crushing Weight of the mountain, +1 dex/con

Continuing from here: At this point the gambit is in full swing so greatest importance is in survival and finding a way to fritter away an immense attack bonus. Anything that gives extra melee attacks is great. Focussing on diamond mind maneuvers and sticking with Warblade becomes more or less god at ELC 18 with Avalanche of Blades (attack until you miss with cumulative -4 penalty). Another option is to try to make the most of pounce with the Shock Trooper line. All three ability score boosts would need to go to strength then, and sticking to fighter might be a good idea. This would give another combat option, especially useful if your enemies don't always try to kill you instead of your big, squishy, fleshy friends.

[Midnight_v]

My advice is do it as a psychic warrior multiclass splashing Tob stuff.
They get vampiric claw/weapon which would heal you as you go, and if you use the expansion power while you do it you're almost "The King of Smack" which was the first answer to people trying to use karmic strike.

Alternatively you Can do it as a Crusader/Warblade pretty easily.
Especially if you're two weapon fighting. Being in the Crusaders stance that Heals you 2 points per attack will mitigae some of it as you'll be striking multiple times in response. As you mention above stone power might help but in the end you can just use one of the Healing strikes to finish the opponent and heal yourself.
What level you're on is relavent.

[hex0]

There are also the Draconic Aura and Combat Vigor for the sake of completeness. Not as powerful but there for your enjoyment either way.

[Fyermind]

The Build Draft 2:

Note: diverges from draft 1 only at ECL 10.

Race: Stony Strongheart Halfling (mineral warrior template) LA +1
Flaws: Shaky (-2 ranged), vulnerable (-1 AC)
Abilities:(32 point) str 10, dex 20, con 18, int 13, wis 6, cha 6 (roleplaying this moron will be fun)
Class and feats and features:

Warblade 1:
Combat reflexes, combat expertise, dodge, karmic strike, Punishing Stance (-2 AC, +1d6 damage), Steely Strike (enemies +4 to hit, you +4 to hit), Steel Wind, Stone Bones

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1:
Rage 1/day, pounce (Complete Champion lion totem)

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/fighter 1:
Two Weapon fighting, Ironheart Aura

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 2:
Mobility, +1 con/dex?

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/ Fighter 3:
meh

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 4:
Stormguard Warrior, Improved Two-weapon fighting

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 5:
meh

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 6:
Dual hit, +1 con/dex (same as before)

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 6/Crusader 1:
Martial Spirit (doesn't say you have to deal damage with the attack just that it must be successful so Stormguard touch attacks out of combat can heal everyone back to max. Also, in combat you will make 4-8 touch attacks per attack on you, so this is 8 to 16 HP back right away), Vanguard Strike, Defensive Rebuke, Shield Block, Douse the Flames, Lion's Roar

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 7/Crusader 1:
+1 dex/con

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 8/Crusader 1:
Elusive target

Warblade 1/Barbarian 1/Fighter 8/Crusader 2:
Thicket of blades, Rolibar's Gambit

[Phaederkiel]

oh, i like the build drafts.

I think the crusader is FAR better than the swashbuckler, especially if you can get some Feycraft weapons (when you could talk your dm into giving your flaws, feycraft should be easy)


your Maneuvers are slightly off:

I like punishing stance, but Leading the charge is FAR more consistently powerful, especially with pounce and allies that benefit too. at EC 7 it overwhelms punishing stance for ever and never looks back.

, I love Steel Strike (as you NEED ways to get your armor down. Enemies happen to roll natural 2 in real games).

I think steel wind doesnt cut it, not without power attack / a Large weapon.
wielding two weapons allows you to attack twice anyway. Perhaps you rather want to use a single big one at low lvls?

Stone bones dmg reduce does probably not stack with stony.

is there a reason you start with warblade instead of barbarian?
you can go into warblade at lvl 5 making this lvl a lot less meh.
Pray tell me, at which level do you start?

later, with the crusader i would think you would like to have

Martial spirit (if you really heal at a sucessful touch attack, that is)
Mountain hammer
BATTLE LEADERS CHARGE ( a pouncers wet dream)
Revitalizing strike
White raven Tactics
Defensive rebuke (I don´t think this is as good as people say, yet...)


I think it would be paramount to get a second warblade lvl as soon as possible, perhaps at 13.

there is another feat the importance of which cannot be stressed enough:

Travel devotion: one fight per day, more if you can pressure a cloistered cleric somewhere into the build (giving you for example imp initiative and knowledge devotion, too) you can 10 rounds move your speed as a swift.
This helps to no end getting your charges and full attacks in.

There is one huge weakness of stormguard warrior compared with shock trooper: enemies with a larger range than you. shocktrooper can use a ranged weapon, even that stupid chain (which can be weopon finessed AND power attacked; well, not at my table), but touch attacks are touch attacks.

you will probably use evasive reflexes to close distance to your big enemies more than you will use it to evade.

*you strike me? I Karmic move closer. Robilar move closer. strike me again? Touch you uncomfortably!*

[Fyermind]

oh, i like the build drafts.

I think the crusader is FAR better than the swashbuckler, especially if you can get some Feycraft weapons (when you could talk your dm into giving your flaws, feycraft should be easy)


Thanks, Draft 2 was because I realized draft 1 sucked. (relatively at least)
I am hoping people will add their own alternate builds, whether or not they are related to these. Especially if people have one without templates that doesn't turn into an exercise in suicide.



I like punishing stance, but Leading the charge is FAR more consistently powerful, especially with pounce and allies that benefit too. at EC 7 it overwhelms punishing stance for ever and never looks back.


Point taken. I was trying to increase viability as a first level character and remember that until epic level (also known as level 6), not every combat was completed in a charge. That seems like a strong alternative though. If you use these bad boys, you can focus charger more than I did.



I think steel wind doesnt cut it, not without power attack / a Large weapon.
wielding two weapons allows you to attack twice anyway. Perhaps you rather want to use a single big one at low lvls?


I totally agree with this. But because that is the only maneuver granting class before level 6, I need a stance (punishing) and two maneuvers (only choices there are steel wind and steely strike) for stormguard warrior.



is there a reason you start with warblade instead of barbarian?
you can go into warblade at lvl 5 making this lvl a lot less meh.
Pray tell me, at which level do you start?


The hope was to play this from level 2 until my DM threw the DMG at me and my companions asked me to go back to Debuff DFAs.



later, with the crusader i would think you would like to have
Martial spirit (if you really heal at a sucessful touch attack, that is)
Mountain hammer
BATTLE LEADERS CHARGE ( a pouncers wet dream)
Revitalizing strike
White raven Tactics
Defensive rebuke (I don´t think this is as good as people say, yet...)


RAW Battle leaders charge looks like it allows only a single attack after the charge and doesn't affect attacks later on. This seems to be a common feature of most maneuvers which is why I favor boosts/counters over strikes when I can and love defensive rebuke.



you will probably use evasive reflexes to close distance to your big enemies more than you will use it to evade.

*you strike me? I Karmic move closer. Robilar move closer. strike me again? Touch you uncomfortably!*


I was hoping to max tumble and never run into a knight better at AoO than me... but yes. That is an important point.

[rmg22893]

Ring of Greater Blink, anyone? xD

As long as your opponent doesn't have Ghost Touch, they have a 50% miss chance. If they do have Ghost Touch, it's a 20% miss chance.

[W3bDragon]

Since you're going fighter and have tons of feats, take a look at the Combat Focus feats in the PH2. Specifically, combining Combat Focus+Combat Stability+Combat Vigor.

That'll net you +4 will, +8 vs trip/disarm/etc, and fast healing 4.

Combine that with some DR, and some miss chance, and your low AC won't hurt nearly as much.

[DeusMortuusEst]

Play a half dragon troll. You're (almost) unkillable.

[Phaederkiel]

oh, i missed that you needed two iron heart maneuvers. hmm. you get three maveuvers and one stance. (note that you can use the stance in place of a maneuver for prereq).

i see two possibilities, both when you enter warblade at lvl 5:

a) take Steely Strike, Wall of Blades (or disarming strike), Battle leaders charge and Leading the Charge

(for gods sake, Ironheart aura needs the damned stance)

b) take Steely Strike, Punishing stance (it is not as good as Leading the charge, but it is good indeed. Lowering your ac at will is priceless), Mountain hammer and Battle Leaders Charge.

You really want to know one White Raven Maneuver so that you can grab the lvl 3 Maneuvers right of the bat when you enter Crusader.

You will need to time it right so that lvl 6 is fighter lvl 4, getting you two feats for both Ironheart aura and stormguard.

Some notes on the maneuvers:

Why should BL Charge not work with pounce? RAW: If your Charge attack hits, it deals an extra 10 points of damage.

I think it is safe to argument that you have more than one attack in this charge and "it" means every attack. okay, this will likely need your dms agreement.

But the good thing about leading the charge is the no AoO clause. With the twisted charge Skilltrick you will be able to charge in most situations, geting there without getting tripped or grappled will make a difference. ever charged a hydra?


with my last line i meant monsters with a 10 to 20 ft reach. You will be somewhat hard pressed to come close enough for your touches.

question to the world: do touch attacks automatically use your strength? or are the stormguard touchies made with the weapon in hand so that feycraft applies?


we should make this a handbook. I think I know much about the Shocktrooper version and we start to get good results with touchyguy here.

[Fyermind]

@Phaederkiel
I love the idea of making this a guidebook. I don't know as I am the best person to write it though. Please use any material I've posted and throw something together. To make it more applicable a build without flaws is really necessary.