Crusader + Lancer (AoO at 5, 10, OR 15 feet!)

[Quirken]

In the AEG sourcebook War, there's a prestige class called Lancer which seems very suited for attack-of-opportunity builds.

I was thinking of having a Crusader character, and taking 5 levels of Lancer at the earliest chance. This would allow me to make attacks of opportunity (or regular attacks) at 5', 10', or 15' range. That's a huuuuge range of squares you can threaten.

Does this build sound good? Worth it?

Truth be told, in the ~5 years I've been playing 3.5, I haven't really gotten to take all that many attacks of opportunities. Most DMs will have monsters be smart enough to not run through your threatened square, and generally speaking, monsters don't change targets and fight until they die. (Not to mention we usually are in dungeons with relatively small rooms, so a 5 foot step could get you to a new target) So, AoO builds have never really appealed to me.

A few details on Lancer:

Entry requirements: BAB +6, jump 4, tumble 4, dodge, mobility, skill focus (jump), weapon focus (any polearm)

At first level, it lets you attack adjacent enemies with a reach weapon (without using a swift action. The Short Haft feat from PHBII lets you use a swift action to convert a reach weapon to a regular weapon, or vice versa)

At fifth level, it increases your reach weapon's reach by 5', but you get -4 penalty to all attacks at that range.

There's some other pretty good perks in the class (bonus to jump/tumble/balance, increased threat range), but those are the main things that interest me.

[Vicerious]

A Medium character with a reach weapon under the effects of an enlarge person spell, or a Large character with a reach weapon, threatens all squares within 20ft.

This tactic also saves you from taking 4 poor feats and wasting skill points on cross-class skills; plus it functions from level 1. If you want to threaten adjacent opponents, either wear armor spikes or spend one of those feats you saved on Exotic Weapon Proficiency (spiked chain).

[Quirken]

A Medium character with a reach weapon under the effects of an enlarge person spell, or a Large character with a reach weapon, threatens all squares within 20ft.

I don't think that's correct; how can you threaten a square you cannot attack? In any case, it seems like it would be difficult to get enlarge person constantly as a crusader. One perk of the Lancer is you have reach almost as large as a large character, while still being small/medium.



Most reach double the wielder’s natural reach, meaning that a typical Small or Medium wielder of such a weapon can attack a creature 10 feet away, but not a creature in an adjacent square. A typical Large character wielding a reach weapon of the appropriate size can attack a creature 15 or 20 feet away, but not adjacent creatures or creatures up to 10 feet away.



This tactic also saves you from taking 4 poor feats and wasting skill points on cross-class skills; plus it functions from level 1. If you want to threaten adjacent opponents, either wear armor spikes or spend one of those feats you saved on Exotic Weapon Proficiency (spiked chain).

That's a valid point, but then I have to spend money on getting magic armor spikes. Spiked chain would work.

[Quirken]

Bah, just found this: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10896217&postcount=4

also, http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7081777


Inhuman Reach, from Lords of Madness. It requires the Aberration Blood feat as well.

Then pick a polearm. That'd give 15' reach to a medium character. Then take Shortened Grip so you can attack in squares adjacent to you--at the cost of a -2 attack.

I have a build that works pretty well for reach characters.

Changeling Fighter4, Warshaper 5, Exotic Weapon Master 1. (Then add what you want.)

The changeling is getting into Warshaper, which grants another 5' reach, so you'd be at 20' for a medium character. Exotic Weapon Master because polearms are two-handed weapons that normally deal 1.5 strength damage. EWM increases that to 2x strength damage.

Edit: If you do go with this build, I'd also recommend decent dexterity and combat reflexes so you can AoO people.

Two feats would net me the same extended reach, and then a spiked chain would solve all other problems. And if I somehow gained access to Enlarge Person... all bets would be off. I'd have stupid good range.

Are AoO builds really worth it if you don't normally get many AoO at regular range?