Making a halfling hero

[Egoria]

Hello playgrounders

We're going to build a halfling hero for my brother, and we could use your input and ideas.

Any books and material allowed, but try and keep the build simple

He would like to be able to function solo and in group
He will not be able to cast arcane spells (perhaps some bard spells, but that's about it)
He was thinking about a tank'ish/knightly character or some other protecter of the halfling lands.

We're also a ranger, druid and wizard in the group, and some are optimized.
So if the build is very weak ( but fun) feel free to make it gestalt.
We play for fun, and we don't want to break any campaigns :)

Hope you fellow playgrounders have some ideas, because we're drawing a blank right now :)

[Garwain]

Halflings lend themselves to sneaky or throwing characters. An elegant and fun build could be warblade/blood blade. Wonderfull synergy , no need for fancy pancy, power comes right out of the box (the box being Tome of Battle).

If he wants to go for defender theme, maybe focus on battlefield control? Blood blade can do ranged trip attacks just as well as melee.

[Aeryr]

knightly character or some other protecter of the halfling lands.

Halfling is a really good race for ubermount characters.

Halfling outrider (a protecter of the halfling lands) is a 10 lvl prc that progresses both paladin special mount and animal companion. That can become the same creature if you take devoted tracker.

Paladin provides the special mount (consider the substitutions of unearthed arcana depending on the alignment intended, and if there is no love for spellcasting complete champion trades spellcasting for a feat, that could be one of the prerequisites for halfling outrider). For the animal companion there are several options, ranger is not really good, druid makes you unable to wear metal armor but provides spells and riding bonus (halfling substitution from races of the wild) and there is Beastmaster that lets you keep the metal armor.

A good way to compliment the build is Wild Plains Outrider, but for a more accurate build it would be nice to have a more accurate character level.

I have played this character a few times and has nice mobility/survivavility. Also it is not really hard to play and could lead to some fun roleplaying considering that he wants to be a hero.

Edit: Strongheart halflings from faerun are normally superior to normal halflings since they give an extra feat.

[Averis Vol]

another classic defender of the halfling lands and halflings in general is the whisper knife. its a stealth throwing build (10 lvls) that eventually gets ranged flank (personally i'd only take 9 lvls). pair it with a master thrower dip and you should be good. maybe dip into tempest to get your TWF penalties down. im not too keen on ToB seeing as my group doesn't use it but i hear the bloodstorm thrower is a nice prestige class and might meld well with this.

[Dr.Epic]

Fighter; TWF build. Take a few levels rogue and got Invisible Blade.

[Averis Vol]

Fighter; TWF build. Take a few levels rogue and got Invisible Blade.

dervish is also a good one to throw into, along with surprising riposte and group fake out.

[Rejusu]

Underfoot combat and Confound the Big folk are fun options. They're only really effective for a halfling if you're fighting large enemies on a regular basis though. They tend to work best on characters that are tiny or smaller. Still they might be worth a look.

[Ravens_cry]

Underfoot combat and Confound the Big folk are fun options. They're only really effective for a halfling if you're fighting large enemies on a regular basis though. They tend to work best on characters that are tiny or smaller. Still they might be worth a look.
On the plus side, with a fairly cheap magic item, a small humanoid (like a halfling) can go tiny.

[Egoria]

The halfling outrider sounds fun. what book is that from?
The level is between 7 and 9. 7 if the build can contribute to the group, 9 if the character is completely worthless :)

He would like to be more melee than ranged, because we have a ranger with a bow and a blaster wizard (mailman'ish build)

What mount would would the halfling outrider use? one that isn't completely broken :) So no 80HD dragons or whatever you can get with those builds.

Are halfling outrider with a good mount able to be on par with the rest of the group, or should one go about gestalting it?

[Aeryr]

Halfling outrider is from the complete warrior, Wild Plains Outrider, Beastmaster and Devoted Tracker are from complete adventurer.

A pretty normal mount would be a riding dog (or a wolf for a more savage feeling), some shenanigans might include a spider (climb speed, webs), an eagle (flying speed) or a fleshraker (if you are in eberron those are awesome).

The best thing about being a mounted small character is that you can get medium creatures as your mount so they would fit into every place that a medium character would normally fit.

I would probably not gestalt it the build has a nice flow and its fun. If more power is needed consider giving "free" natural bonds to improve the mount, or using stronger mounts.

If you can fit wild cohort, it's from a web enhancement, it could give a flanking buddy and it might fit temathically.

Frankly I always try to get a level of Aglarondan griffonrider (unaprochable east) on the build to get a griffon as a mount. :smalltongue:

My favourite combo is move to them, flank them, full attack them and fly away.

Ps. There are ways of breaking it beyond measure search for ubermount or supermount or something like that, but... it stops being fun, you end playing the mount not the character.

[Zombulian]

+1 to halfling outrider!

And may I just recommend that anyone tells you to use fighter, just use ua's warrior. They make fighters cry.

[Bastian Weaver]

Don't forget to give him a Ring of Invisibility. Every halfling hero needs one. ;)

[Taverick]

Halflings are small and usually very agile, so TWF or mounted combat are usually good choices. An option you could do with the mounted is take the Paladin variant Drakkensteed. Which instead of a standard special mount you get a good dragontype thingy.

Or you could do something rather different and make him a heavy armor fighter with the Shield Bearer fighter variant. Take the armor/shield Op feats and boost his AC through the roof while having plenty of hitpoints to take a hit. That size bonus doesn't hurt too much either.

On the subject of racial stuff you can use different halfing variants like Glimmerskin. A dragonblooded halfing that while losing the stealth bonus gain heal as a class skill and a 1/day +2 luck bonus to himself or any ally within 30ft for any skill or ability check as an immiediate action. And don't forget the Stronghearts! They lose the +1 luck bonus to saves but gain a bonus feat.

[gorfnab]

The halfling outrider sounds fun. what book is that from?
The level is between 7 and 9. 7 if the build can contribute to the group, 9 if the character is completely worthless :)

He would like to be more melee than ranged, because we have a ranger with a bow and a blaster wizard (mailman'ish build)

What mount would would the halfling outrider use? one that isn't completely broken :) So no 80HD dragons or whatever you can get with those builds.

Are halfling outrider with a good mount able to be on par with the rest of the group, or should one go about gestalting it?

Basic Supermount

LG Strongheart Halfling
1. Paladin - Mounted Combat, Track
2. Paladin
3. Paladin - Skill Focus: Handle Animal (prereq for Beast Master)
4. Paladin
5. Paladin
6. Beastmaster - Devoted Tracker
7. Beastmaster
8. Wild Plains Outrider
9. Wild Plains Outrider - Mounted Archery
10. Wild Plains Outrider
11. Halfling Outrider
12. Halfling Outrider - Natural Bond
13. Halfling Outrider
14. Halfling Outrider
15. Halfling Outrider - Ride By Attack (or some other feat)
16. Halfling Outrider
17. Halfling Outrider
18. Halfling Outrider - Spirited Charge (or some other feat)
19. Halfling Outrider
20. Halfling Outrider

At 20th Level
Special Mount: 18th level Paladin = Paladin 5 + Wild Plains 3 + Half-Out 10
Animal Companion: 18th level Druid = Beast Master 5 + Natural Bond 3 + Half-Out 10

[Calanon]

Underfoot combat and Confound the Big folk are fun options. They're only really effective for a halfling if you're fighting large enemies on a regular basis though. They tend to work best on characters that are tiny or smaller. Still they might be worth a look.


On the plus side, with a fairly cheap magic item, a small humanoid (like a halfling) can go tiny.

2 words: GiantsBane :smalltongue:

[Zombulian]

[QUOTE=Ravens_cry;12900198]



2 words: GiantsBane :smalltongue:

Confound the Big Folk does virtually the same thing... but way better.

[Andezzar]

Sorry for the threadnecromancy.

What medium sized flying mounts are there?

[Amoren]

Direbats if I recall? (Or was that giant bats?)

[Andezzar]

Unfortunately the Dire Bat (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/direBat.htm) is large. I doubt giant bats will be smaller.

[gorfnab]

Dire Hawk - Races of the Wild