Good defensive items

[caden_varn]

I'm building a halfling Ranger 6/Bard 2 for an Eberron game, hopefully to be a bit of a tank. As such, I'm looking for good ways within my budget to boost my defences, as my Con is, shall we say, rather poor. So I am hoping to go the not being hit route.

Available sources are the DMG and Eberron books (we don't own any other 3.5 books and that is not realistically going to change). My complete budget is 27,000gp, and usual rules (no more than half on one item) apply.

I am planning a sword and board build, so I can get magic armour and shield. I'm planning to get Dex and Con boosting items for a bit of an all round boost, and I can probably get an amulet of Natural armour and/or a ring of protection, but is there anything else/better I should think of?
In particular, is there any way to get a miss chance? Ring of blink is 27,000 so that is out of budget - is there anything else I could get from these sources?

[gallagher]

Get the smoking enhancement. Miss chance, cheap, low levels you can keep people away with a nausea effect. Woops, didnt see the restricted books. This one is in Lords of Darkness, p180, google it and ask your DM for permission to use it, because if you can get it this is the way to go.

other than that, can you explain why you want to taint a wonderful opportunity to bard with all that ranger, and how do you plan on being a tank in light armor with mostly d8 hit die?

[Khedrac]

A Dusty Rose Ioun Stone is 5000gp for a +1 [i]Insight[/o] bonus to AC

Amulet of Natural Armor - if you have a druid in the party wear a Con item instead and get a barkskin from the druid.
If not see if your DM will allow you an Amulet of Natural Armor with a Con boost secondary benefit.

Can you spare a feat for Combat Expertise?

Cheese time - get armor or shield spikes enchanted to "+1 Defending". Get Greater Magic Weapon cast on them and move all the bonus to AC. (The min maxers go for both, but I claim that's two bonuses from the same source - the defending enchantment - and don't stack.)

(In fact I reckon Con > AC as it applies to more things.)

[Togo]

Mithrilmist shirt gives you concealment as a swift action. See Magic Item Compendium.

[caden_varn]

[S]

other than that, can you explain why you want to taint a wonderful opportunity to bard with all that ranger, and how do you plan on being a tank in light armor with mostly d8 hit die?

Well, already played a Bard in this campaign, and while I enjoyed him I want to try something a bit different. As to how I plan to tank in light armour, d8 hit dice (and 6 Con), badly is probably the most appropriate answer :smallbiggrin:.

More seriously, I am hoping to get some trained animals for most of the tanking duties, and the rest of the group are equally or more incompetent in combat as I will be, so it will at least be equal in that front.

Thanks for the suggestions so far - I'll check some of these out and see how nice my DM is feeling (and if anyone has any extra splat books they have been hiding)

[Killer Angel]

and I can probably get an amulet of Natural armour

Don't.
Go for bard 4 asap, to cast Alter Self; 'til that point, buy some scroll of said spell, enjoy the troglodyte's +6 nat AC bonus and the goodies of all the other forms... :smallwink:

[Jane_Smith]

Also remember that silent image can be used to provide concealment and block enemy sight. Sure, they can disbelieve it ALL they want, but that still wont let them see threw your image clearly. You can use this to easily cripple a volley of archers, etc.

[Psyren]

Also remember that silent image can be used to provide concealment and block enemy sight. Sure, they can disbelieve it ALL they want, but that still wont let them see threw your image clearly. You can use this to easily cripple a volley of archers, etc.

This won't work. If you successfully disbelieve Silent Image (or any other figment) then it becomes a translucent outline, meaning they can see through it.

The term "translucent" is also used in See Invisibility, implying that translucence does not provide concealment.

[Venger]

an anklet of translocation (MIC) will only set you back 1400gp. it allows you to teleport 10 feet as a swift action. very useful if you're tied up in melee and have used up your 5ft step or are on difficult terrain or some other such and want to avoid AoOs. requires los and the space can't be occupied, but pretty useful. works twice a day. like a mini abrupt jaunt.

[caden_varn]

Thanks for the ideas. Sadly no Magic item compendium in the group though, so can't take those options unless they are in the SRD. (as above, only DMG and Eberron owned in the group, dso if it is not in there or SRD it is unlikely to be accepted).

Combat expertise is a possibility - normally I would avoid for the lower hit chance, but simply to avoid being hit it might well be worthwhile. Blindfight can wait for another level.

More details on the current setup:
Halfling Ranger 6, Bard 2
Base stats: Str 10, Dex 20, Con 6, Int 16, Wis 11, Chr 15
At the moment, based on the DMG only (Don't have access to Eberron until I see the DM next), I am thinking of taking
+2 weapon (8K +masterwork weapon cost) (+1 & shock maybe, too many things seem to have fire resistance
+2 mithral shirt (5.1K)
+2 darkwood buckler (maybe +1 bashing, although depends if my DM says it has to be a buckler or can be a light shield) (4.2K)
Gloves of Dex +2 (brings my Dex up to 22) (4K)
Amulet of Health +2 (Con up to 8 woot!) (4K)

leaves me a bit over 1K for consumables or mundane stuff.

Feats would be improved shield bash, combat reflexes, combat expertise maybe?

[gallagher]

Ok, 6 Con is a mistake. Do not do that to yourself. That is almost literally suicide for an adventurer.

And if you are thinking of using pets to tank instead of you, and you like the role that bards play (buffs, being silly for no reason, carrying around a lute) you could try playing a druid! You get a better pet than a ranger, you can summon more fuzzballs and you have a good selection of buff spells unique to your list. Then all you have to do is carry around that lute. Bonus points if you can play it while wildshaped and dip a level in bard for fun.

Then, you would need Con, Wis, and Cha primarily. Wis for your spells, Con for wildshaping and hitpoints, and Cha because you want to look cool while doing it.

[caden_varn]

I am actually retiring a druid, as she is simply totally overpowering compared to the rest of the group. In a more powerful party I'd be happy with it, but I just don't find it fun in the current group. The ranger/bard will be much more in tune power-wise with the rest, and I trust the DM to tune the encounters accordingly.

As for the 6 Con, it is a pain, but I had to put the 5 somewhere, and it was there or abandon the concept I wanted to try. I don't want to have to roleplay a 5 or 6 in a mental stat, and none of the physical stats are good for dumping that, so I had to stick it somewhere.
Shame, cos it was a real nice bunch of stats til I got that on the last roll...

[Gavinfoxx]

6 Con? D8 Hit Dice? I KNOW HOW YOU CAN TANK!

In your backstory (check with the GM for how much this will cost!) Find a Level 8 Dread Necromancer, with the feats Corpsecrafter, Bolster Resistance, Nimble Bones, and Hardened Flesh, who has a Deadwalker's Ring, and an altar to an evil god, to make you Necropolitan. This gets you:

+2 Natural Armor
+4 Initiative
+10' land speed (Untyped, I believe)
+4 Enhancement to Strength
+4 Enhancement to Dexterity
+6 Hit points per hit dice, with a D12 hit dice for all your dice (just do 1st maximized, and the rest 6.5)
+4 Turn Resistance
Undead type (Including Con -)
Necropolitan racial features

[gallagher]

I am actually retiring a druid, as she is simply totally overpowering compared to the rest of the group. In a more powerful party I'd be happy with it, but I just don't find it fun in the current group. The ranger/bard will be much more in tune power-wise with the rest, and I trust the DM to tune the encounters accordingly.

As for the 6 Con, it is a pain, but I had to put the 5 somewhere, and it was there or abandon the concept I wanted to try. I don't want to have to roleplay a 5 or 6 in a mental stat, and none of the physical stats are good for dumping that, so I had to stick it somewhere.
Shame, cos it was a real nice bunch of stats til I got that on the last roll...

Hey man, power is how you play it, but I can see other people being put off about having a full caster that can also cover everyone's job in the party. What exactly is this concept that you want to try, tell us about why you picked these classes and how you expect them to perform and we can help you cover your bases. Because sorry, but if the level of build optimization is somewhere near a ranger who dips a little bard with a penalty to Con, then I am not sure if your party will be able to handle the challenges we would expect you to face.

[herrhauptmann]

Put that 6 con into strength.
You're a bard, you're dex based to begin with.
Avoid shock/flaming/frost/etc weapons. That +1d6 looks nice for now, but becomes crap soon. And if something has even the smallest bit of resistance, it's totally useless.
Corner case: Certain monsters actually speed up or heal when hit with lightning effects. Cold would at least slow them.


You'd be better with a +1 keen weapon. Or better yet, get sudden stunning DMG2 (don't know if you have it available). It's in the weapon effects link in my sig. If your damage is low, you want to add separate effects onto your attacks. The fact taht you hit for 1d6-3 damage won't matter if you also give someone a fear effect, or fatigue them, or dazzle them when you hit.