3.5 - Fightertype, where to go from here?

[Thuran]

We are currently in a campaign where our characters reached level 12 and I had finally gotten my prestige class underway, then promptly failed a save vs charm person and tried to disarm the goliath warblade in the party as he insisted on attacking my friends in spite my warnings that they were on our side and didn't mean us any harm. He promtly responded by giving me 120 damage and killing me, which resulted in a raise dead and a level loss, which now means I don't have my prestige class yet. :smallannoyed:

It also gave me a second chance to consider where to go, and while the plan was to go for ghost-faced killer a second look has put me in doubt as to just how effective a choise it is; namely the limitated nature of ghost step combined with most creatures easily saving against the fearsome attacks means the only maintain benefit besides the occasional flat-footed opponent is the sneak attack damage and the skill points.

I am currently Rping an exiled human samurai, and havecombined a number of classes to make sure it stays in flavour, while trying to avoid gimping myself too much as this group is fairly powerplay-centric in character design.

Currently i got:

2 Levels samurai from CW – Gives me the equivalent feats i would get from 2 levels in fighter anyway, and some more skill points.

3 levels human paragon – Again, equivalent feats, allows me to make iajutusu focus a class skill forever to keep character, while the feat and +2 STR means I am still not sacrificing much combat power compared to taking those levels in fighter.

2 Levels master samurai – Again, keep flavoiur, get equivalent feats to 2 levels fighter (namely great cleave+supreme cleave) and full BaB

4 fighter levels – Goes without saying, and the samurai being a figher it also fits the character while giving the usual benefits.

Featwise ive been moving towards whirlwind attack, while in terms of weapons I use a Naginata or a combination of katana and wakizashi, or the katana in two hands depending on the situation. Once I get defending on the wakizashi and get some enhancement bonuses on it, it also gives me the option of using that offhand as a limited shield if I need to stay alive.

So, wondering where to go from here. Should I stick with ghost-faced killer, or would another prestige class benefit me more while still not conflicting with the character type? Or should I just drop prestige classes alltogether and go full fighter, maybe dipping a bit into martial study to get some maneuvers?

[olentu]

I would suggest Telflammar shadowlord and some tome of battle for the shadow hand teleports.

[Thuran]

I assume you are referring to the 3.5 version or the one directly in 3.0? Also, that class seem to have some pretty hefty requirement.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Fighter 4 goes without saying? That doesn't give any benefit over fighter 2/warblade, barbarian, or crusader 2.

I'm guessing the PrC was Ronin, although you mentioned Ghost-Faced Killer, so what do I know?

Anyway, warblade or crusader levels fit the samurai theme and are stronger than almost all your other options (and the "almost" might not even be necessary).

[Coidzor]

Well, first off, what are your stats? If you're TWFing and there's no bard in the party, Warrior Skald will give you bardic music equivalent to a bard with the number of ranks in perform you have, but that would also require adjudication/conversion of 3.0 to 3.5 material or just running it as is. As Inspire Courage or Dragonfire Inspiration are good for people with lots o attacks.

Suel Arcanamach if you have the CHA and maybe some boosters can reflect turning your back on what you were exiled from and taking up the sorcerous arts and combining them with your martial spirit. Combines fairly well with a Warblade dip or two and then Jade Phoenix Mage, IIRC. Even if you have minimum CHA to cast spells of the levels it gets you when using a CHA boosting item, you've still got access to some of the better buffs in the game for melee types.

Of course, straight warblade for the next 8 levels will get you some nifty stuff and an Initiator level of 14, which nets you 7th level maneuvers tops, which isn't half bad. It also helps model a samurai better than either samurai class from Oriental Adventures or Complete Warrior.

[Thuran]

Fighter 4 goes without saying? That doesn't give any benefit over fighter 2/warblade, barbarian, or crusader 2.


Goes without saying in terms of what it gives for a standard fighter, although could have found a better way to put it. Sadly dipping bard for rage is not an option as I am lawfull evil, although will look into what crusader gives and if it might be an idea.

To answer your other question, she is not currently a ronin, and she still serves her lord, however due to political circumstances her lord could not keep her too close to himself, so while she is formally still in service abroad, she is in reality in exile and her main goal at the moment is to serve as best she can until she is proves herself worthy enough to be allowed back to her lands. This was not exactly in conflict with ghost faced either as they are described as pretending to be honourable until the time comes to assasinate people.

Thanks for the tips guys! Will be looking into the classes mentioned and see if one of them stand out! :smallsmile:

Oh, and current stats are, with items:

STR 19
Dex 13 (access to two weapon fighting, combat expertise and so on)
Con 12
Int 14
Wis 10
Cha 10

As for why i made Int higher than Con, that was mostly due to what fit the character as her starting point, being more skilled than bulky (would likely have gone higher dex if it wasn't an absolute requirement for fighter and katana's weren't locked out of weapon finesse.)

[olentu]

I assume you are referring to the 3.5 version or the one directly in 3.0? Also, that class seem to have some pretty hefty requirement.

Oh 3.5 of course