Help With DND 3.5 Core+OA only build

[thewiredone]

I was playing a Human Fighter 5,other party members include a Hengeykai Rogue Lvl4, a Human Samurai Lvl4, and a Bamboo Folk Ranger Lvl4.
The ranger and samurai are new players, while rogue is more roleplay oriented.

Stats
Str:18
Dex:18
Con:16
Int:17
Wis:14
Cha:12

My Background is that i am a mercenary whose last job went under at sea and ended up at the OA setting from lands far away. So I want to know of a good build for this low magic campaign, since the last session ended with my character taking out 2 Common Oni out of 3 before dying, while the rest of the party fell during the 2nd round of combat except the rogue who lived by shape changing and running. So my DM tells me we werent suppose to fight them and were suppose to run and warn the town. He says I can keep my stats and make a new character. My new character is the mercenary's brother who came looking for him. I would prefer to be a full BAB class

[ArcturusV]

Honestly with stats like that I'd probably throw up a Barbarian, rather than a Fighter. OA gives you the Bear Warrior, which is an excellent PrC for Barbarians as well, so it's not like you won't have something to look forward to.

[thewiredone]

i could play Barbarian, quick question though would a twfing barbarian be bad?
I think if i use small bastard swords with the EWP feat i can twf with them as light weapons.

[eggynack]

i could play Barbarian, quick question though would a twfing barbarian be bad?
I think if i use small bastard swords with the EWP feat i can twf with them as light weapons.
You should probably avoid every part of that. Just use some kinda great sword, or maybe a spiked chain or guisarme if you seek tripping. What definition of core are you using, anyway? Do you mean just PHB, DMG, and MM1, or are you using one of the more expansive definition that uses anything from the SRD, or d20SRD? Either way TWF is a bad idea for a number of reasons.

[thewiredone]

oh just player's handbook and dmg and OA handbook. I cant use MM1 for feats or races, i originally wanted to play a lizardfolk Sorcerer named godzilla but was instantly rejected

[undead hero]

Play a warrior cleric that buffs/heals.

You won't need a high wis for this so 14 should be fine.

[eggynack]

oh just player's handbook and dmg and OA handbook. I cant use MM1 for feats or races, i originally wanted to play a lizardfolk Sorcerer named godzilla but was instantly rejected
Perhaps the horizon tripper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80415) is what you seek, then. It's just about the best melee build that uses nothing but that material, though it might be effected somehow by OA stuff. You could always go with undead hero's suggestion of clericing it up. Those guys melee like noone's business.

[thewiredone]

clerics are a banned class

[eggynack]

clerics are a banned class
So, it's all under tier three then? In that case, just stick with the horizon tripper idea. That build is sweet. Just, y'know, avoid that TWF thing. You're basically expending resources to do worse than you would in your natural state. Also, if druids are available, druids are obviously amazing. They're probably not available if clerics aren't, though.

[ArcturusV]

Eh. I'd say Two Weapon Fighting bad for a barbarian. It's pretty feat intensive for little pay out, considering your damage pluses aren't Dice or anything but just 1/2 strength bonus. And while you have the stats for it, there's better stuff you could be doing with your Feats.

I always favored having a longspear, a maul, and a greataxe in core. Simple stuff, but it does what you need it to do as far as various damage types, and is cheap... plus they're all two handed stuff which helps when you go flying into a Hulk Smash rage.

[thewiredone]

I like the Horizion tripper and am gonna go with it, thanks for the quick replys.:smallbiggrin:

[eggynack]

I like the Horizion tripper and am gonna go with it, thanks for the quick replys.:smallbiggrin:
No problem. Core melee builds are a common enough problem that they have a fancy pre-constructed solution. You can't go too wrong with a tripping build.

[Dusk Eclipse]

So, it's all under tier three then? In that case, just stick with the horizon tripper idea. That build is sweet. Just, y'know, avoid that TWF thing. You're basically expending resources to do worse than you would in your natural state. Also, if druids are available, druids are obviously amazing. They're probably not available if clerics aren't, though.

OA restricts classes which don't fit in the rokugan setting, from the top of my head that includes druids, bards and clerics. Not trying to sound dismissive or rude; but if he doesn't have access to MM for feats, I doubt the DM knows or cars about tiers enough to ban classes based on them.

[eggynack]

OA restricts classes which don't fit in the rokugan setting, from the top of my head that includes druids, bards and clerics. Not trying to sound dismissive or rude; but if he doesn't have access to MM for feats, I doubt the DM knows or cars about tiers enough to ban classes based on them.
Fair enough, I guess. I'm not particularly familiar with OA, except for a few minor aspects of it. That also probably explains the mention of sorcerers. In any case, some folks play in low magic campaigns, without even knowing that their game is also fitting into a low tier guideline. Without knowledge of the Rokugan setting, I suppose I assumed that his game was something like that. I should probably check that book out, if only to make recommendations for an OA themed adaptation to the horizon tripper. There's probably something in there that's better than it was in the original.

[ArcturusV]

Eh... dunno if there's anything that would replace or replicate a good Horizon Tripper in OA. Not that there isn't some useful stuff in general. The Shapechanger PrC is fairly decent when you aren't comparing it to Druid (Fast Wildshaping Progression over 10 levels, and 5/10 spellcaster progression). Void Disciple which is kinda ridiculous on it's own. No need for Nightmare Shenanigans, you can just astral project on your own. Also has some weird powers to jack people up.

But probably the best PrCs out of it are the Barbarian based ones. Bear Warrior comes to mind. Singh Rager as another. For a setting all about Samurai and Priests, there's a lot of Barbarian friendly stuff in there. Including the base class of Sohei which is basically a Paladin with a weird type of Rage instead of usually useless smitery. Also gets that ability that allows Partial Will and Partial Fortitude saves to be fully negated.

Wu Jen is OA, and quite good of course. Though I've never actually seen someone at the table pick Wu Jen. Guess they just we're into Faux Wizards.