E6 Character Build Question

[macfadden510]

Hello,

I'm planning on joining an e6 campaign soon and I've been wondering about a good build. I will the primary fighter/damage dealer of the group and I plan to focus on power attack and charging. The campaign restricts my race options to any variant of dwarf or gnome. All splat and source books will be allowed. Magic items are incredibly rare (no Valorous weapon...yet). The two builds I'm thinking are Fighter 6 (Dungeon Crasher) or Barbarian X (at least 2, Whirling Frenzy and Pounce).

I've done some number crunching but I'm still wondering which is better: a single maximum power attack with a good chance of hitting (Greater Weapon Focus + Melee Weapon Mastery) and have a better AC or 3 attacks on a charge while frenzying with a reduced chance to hit (-2 from frenzy, power attack penalties).

I plan on taking Power Attack, Leap Attack, Improved Bullrush/Sunder, Shock Trooper, and Combat Brute for both builds (and Headlong Rush if the DM waives the race requirement). Fighter 6 would nab me feats that require a BAB of +8. Barbarian would grant me access various rage feats.

The rest of the party is a gnome Bard, a dwarf Cleric, and I believe a dwarf wizard. I am open to other build suggestions but my core theme is charging and power attack.

[Lonely Tylenol]

(Not-so-)minor nitpick: You aren't making those three attacks at -2. I mean, technically you are, but you're also gaining +2 to hit from the +4 STR you gain from Whirling Frenzy. It's part of what makes it so freaking AMAZING at lower levels.

[macfadden510]

Has anyone noticed any survivability issues in e6? With only 6 HD max giving me limited hit points would it be worth going Fighter 6 for (Greater) Heavy Optimization, regular Rage for the extra hit points at the cost of AC (would take Reckless Rage), or will the +2 dodge bonus from Whirling Frenzy be sufficient. Just how important is AC and hit points in e6.

[docnessuno]

In E6 a good AC is more important than regular play, but still not something "mandatory". If you are worried of survivability go grab the mineral warrior template, it's amazing in E6.

[Gnome Alone]

Personally I'd go with barbarian. I don't think Fighter 6 would be all that great in E6, since their main asset is having a lot of feats, which is the one thing you can keep accumulating in E6 anyway. Unless you really, really want Improved Critical or something.

[Soranar]

There's no real reason why you can't do both.

a build like this

1 Barbarian
2 Barbarian
3 Fighter
4 Fighter
5 Fighter
6 Fighter

in E6, barbarians are a 1 or 2 level build (your rages don't improve and you get a lot of feats so you can just take extra rage)

Dwarves have fighter as a favored class so just do it this way, you can still invest in weapon specialization and armor specialization if you feel like it.

I suggest you take hidden talent and invest in charisma a little so that you can take psionic weapon and deep impact (touch attacks are a great boon to hit those high CR creatures).

And yes, you definitely want to take the whirling frenzy ACF.

[Zonugal]

Why not do something like a Dwarven Super Soldier type build?

Mineral Warrior Earth Dwarf Barbarian 2/Crusader 2/Warblade 1/Pious Templar 1.

Eh?

[Lonely Tylenol]

Personally I'd go with barbarian. I don't think Fighter 6 would be all that great in E6, since their main asset is having a lot of feats, which is the one thing you can keep accumulating in E6 anyway. Unless you really, really want Improved Critical or something.

Actually, Fighter 6 can be very powerful and effective in E6... If you're using the Dungeoncrasher variant, that is. 8d6+3*STR is nothing to sneeze at when your health caps at 6dx+6*CON. I mean, say you have a Rogue 6 with 14 CON; that means your health averages out to about 35 at 6th level. A 16 STR Fighter is going to average 37 damage on a single hit. If the Fighter has 18 STR, and the Rogue 12 CON? Fuggedaboutit. Stick a fork in him; he's done.

Of course, that's no Ubercharger, but Fighter levels are also pretty much the only way to complete an Ubercharger build before digging into epic feats (as Leap Attack requires you be at least 5th level by virtue of its Jump rank requirement, and Shock Trooper requires you have BAB +6). Of course, that doesn't require Fighter 6 (just a 1-2-level Fighter dip at the tail end), and most martial feat builds can be made without Fighter levels by using the epic feats, but Fighter still builds them quicker.

[Fluffy_1.0]

Alternatively, you can do a passable impersonation of the Jack B Quick (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19869062/6_hits_to_1:_Jack_B._Quick) build in e6 if you so desire. You do need a couple flaws or epic feats to finish off the basic combo though. Then there are a lot of feats that help the build you can take for epic feats. It works very well if you can score some extra bonus damage on your strikes.

So Human fighter 6, or any other full BAB class that you like if you have enough epic feats.