Help a Fighter

[Vknight]

I want too help my friend with his build. He has only used Core and hasn't looked at any other books, and it will be difficult even though the Gm has allowed it.
We created characters at level 6 and are in the next session or 2; leveling up to 7th
So here is the character.

Race: Human
Class: Fighter 6

Stats
Strength 18(Don't know if its 18 natural or +2 strength item)
Dexterity 13
Constitution 14
Intelligence 13
Wisdom 14
Charisma 14

Feats
-Toughness
-Power Attack
-Improved Unarmed Strike
-Cleave
-Great Cleave
-Endurance
-Iron Will
-Combat Expertise

His current weapon is a
+1 Great-sword with nothing else special
His armor is
+1 Full Plate
He has a cloak of Resistance +1

And that is all he has for magic items

I tried too get him too take the Zhentaim Soldier substitution levels but he wouldn't
He will be taking at least 2 Paladin levels
Suggestions for Paladin variants too help him
Also the Gm is letting him exchange Toughness, Improved Unarmed Strike, and Great Cleave* for other feats. He will probably take Improved Toughness once maybe even twice.
*He thinks Great Cleave is a great feat

So I need suggestions for a Fighter/Paladin
Prestige Classes and/or Feats
Class Variants what have you too help him out.

The Other Party Members
Druid 6, me and I'm the minion master
Wizard 6, does a lot of blasting but is Batman Wizard
Rogue 5/Assassin 1, can't tumble, no use magic device, Death Attack DC of 12 and tries to use it every fight. This guy is a whole different problem caused by the player only thinking about maxing stealth abilities and crippling other rogue skills. Is a ranged rogue with a full sized crossbow...
Cleric 6, with Divine Meta-magics

As you can see we are a group of
3 High Op characters
2 low op characters.

1 who is getting help from the Gm but won't accept any from other players
and another who doesn't get skills or stealth rules or anything in those regards

[Kane0]

Oh dear. Well, at least he has the chance to change out some of those feats.

My advice would be to hand him a copy of complete warrior and ask him if he likes anything in there. You cant hope for him to turn away from his low-opness but at least he can pick out a cool feat or PrC to work towards. As long as he's having fun and the dm can handle the op gap then dont sweat it

And that rogue character, possibly the same thing with complete adventurer. Just get them exposed to those two complete books and slowly build from there. Let them build system mastery at their own pace if they have the inclination to, its not something that you can do for them.

I suppose its just a matter of encourging them to learn the intricacies rather than teaching them.

[GeekGirl]

My advice would be to hand him a copy of complete warrior and ask him if he likes anything in there. You cant hope for him to turn away from his low-opness but at least he can pick out a cool feat or PrC to work towards. As long as he's having fun and the dm can handle the op gap then dont sweat it
This first.


If I can suggest Jack B. Quick (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19869062/6_hits_to_1:_Jack_B._Quick). It will take soem doing as his feats are a little off base, but doable.

The build is easy to play and a whole lot of fun. He still won't stack up to high op casters but he can stand on his own in combat and contribute.

If he doesn't like that, you could try and talk him into dungeon crasher variant. Let him just run into everything.

Hope this is a little helpful.

[Gwendol]

Sticking with the SRD he should swap out his weapon for one with reach. Spiked chain is the best.
For feats he should get imp trip asap and imp bull rush to qualify for knock down.

For paladin I recommend getting the "from smite to song" feat. It converts the largely useless smite to inspire courage (like a bard). He can swap the mount for a divine spirit (dungeonscape), but I guess it depends on how far he's planning to progress paladin. I would suggest he looks at the bard instead: there are some cool stuff he could do with bardic songs, casting, and skills.

[Gwendol]

Can't believe I missed this, but your friend should get combat reflexes as well. Great cleave is not so bad, but he can take it later. Combat reflexes and a reach weapon (and imp trip) are kind of the baseline for a competent fighter.

[Gavinfoxx]

I strongly suggest you read this:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80415

And that you get the GM to open the game up to the feats in the SRD.

http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/feats.htm
http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm
http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/psionicFeats.htm

Then, I would look into these useful feats:

Combat Expertise
Combat Reflexes
Exotic Weapon Proficiency Spiked Chain
Improved Trip
Improved Initiative
Power Attack
Hold the Line
Knock-Down
Reckless Offense
Stand-Still

Change your build to remove all but combat expertise and power attack from your character.

[eggynack]

For feats he should get imp trip asap and imp bull rush to qualify for knock down.

Knock-down doesn't have improved bull rush as a prerequisite. You might be thinking of knockback. Improved bull rush is still important though, because it's a prerequisite for shock trooper, and it helps out in a dungeon crasher build.

[Gwendol]

Right, I mixed them up regarding the pre reqs. Knockdown requires imp trip.